The European Union’s top court has ruled against the Berlin-based company and others making flavoured tobacco products.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled earlier this week that the 2014 ban on the sale of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco containing flavourings was valid. The decision comes in response to an application for exemption submitted by the German company Planta Tabak.
As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, the EU had given member states two years to implement the rule, and it took effect in Germany in 2016.
Planta Tabak, a Berlin-based tobacco business founded in 1956, challenged both the EU law of 2014 and the 2016 ECJ ruling that upheld it. The company claimed the rules did not apply to its flavoured products, most of which were made of mentholated roll-your-own tobacco.
The ECJ said flavoured tobacco products were “particularly attractive to young people and facilitate the initiation of tobacco consumption”.
According to DW, the case now reverts to Berlin’s administrative court, where Planta Tabak filed its first challenge.
