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Top tobacco companies lose plain packaging appeal

May 20th, 2016
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http://www.newshub.co.nz/world/top-tobacco-companies-lose-plain-packaging-appeal-2016052015#axzz49CBnbBvf

Britain’s High Court has rejected a legal challenge brought by the world’s top four tobacco companies against making plain packaging compulsory on cigarettes.

Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands had argued the law, due to come into force on Friday, unlawfully took away their intellectual property.

“It is wrong to view this issue purely in monetised terms alone,” the ruling said on Thursday.

“There is a significant moral angle which is embedded in the regulations which is about saving children from a lifetime of addiction, and children and adults from premature death and related suffering and disease.”

Plain packaging means a ban on all marketing on tobacco packages — including colours, logos and distinctive fonts — to try to make smoking less attractive, especially to young people.

Governments around the world are cracking down on the deadly habit that kills about 6 million people a year.

Australia became the first country to mandate cigarettes must be sold in plain packages when it passed a law in 2012.

Reuters

Cigarette firms lose appeal on UK packs

May 20th, 2016
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http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/consumer/Cigarette-firms-lose-appeal-on-UK-packs/shdaily.shtml

TOBACCO giants have lost a legal challenge in London against imposing new rules for standardized packaging due to come into force today, meaning Britain will join a growing list of countries to do so.

Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International had challenged the legality of the new regulations, which mean all new cigarette packs sold in Britain will have to be olive green.

Shops will have 12 months to sell existing packets.

“The regulations were lawful when they were promulgated by parliament and they are lawful now in the light of the most up-to-date evidence,” judge Nicholas Green said in yesterday’s ruling.

Cancer Research UK’s Chief Executive Harpal Kumar said: “This is an important milestone in our efforts to reduce the devastating toll that tobacco exerts on so many families every day.

“It’s the beginning of the end for packaging that masks a deadly and addictive product,” he said.

The European Court of Justice earlier this month ruled that the Tobacco Product Directive is lawful.

Under the directive, health warnings must cover 65 percent of the front and back of every pack of cigarettes, with extra warnings on the top.

The directive also allowed Britain to go further and introduce its own regulations requiring all packaging to be olive green.

A British health ministry spokesman said: “Smoking … kills over 100,000 people every year in the UK.”

Tobacco firms vow to fight on against plain packaging following High Court defeat

May 19th, 2016
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Two of the world’s biggest tobacco companies have vowed to continue to fight plain packaging in the UK, after the High Court today rejected a bid by the cigarette industry to prevent the introduction of the new law.

Plain packets of cigarettes will be officially imposed tomorrow after Mr Justice Green dismissed a challenge against the measure by four industry giants: British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International (JTI), Imperial Tobacco, and Philip Morris International (PMI).

BAT and JTI immediately said they would seek to appeal the ruling, which means that brands and logos will be banned and packets must be a standardised green-brown, with graphic health warnings. Tobacco companies have a year to sell through their old stock.

The cigarette-makers had argued that the controversial law deprived them of their intellectual property without receiving compensation. They also said the evidence from Australia, the first country in the world to impose plain packaging in December 2012, showed it had been ineffective in discouraging people from smoking.

However, in a ruling that ran to 386 pages, Mr Justice Green decided in favour of the Government, which seeks to cut smoking rates and stop children from picking up the habit.

“The regulations were lawful when they were promulgated by Parliament and they are lawful now in the light of the most uptodate evidence,” he said. “There is a significant moral angle which is embedded in the regulations which is about saving children from a lifetime of addiction, and children and adults from premature death and related suffering and disease.”

Deborah Arnott, the head of anti-smoking charity Ash, described the ruling as a “crushing defeat for the tobacco industry”.

But a spokesman for Dunhill manufacturer BAT claimed it was “by no means the final word on the lawfulness of plain packaging”, claiming the judgement “contains a number of fundamental errors of law”.

JTI, the other company that plans to appeal, said: “This decision sets a dangerous precedent for intellectual property rights and investment. Other consumer goods industries must now worry that their branding is under threat from political opportunism, rather than examining the evidence.”

Both Imperial and PMI said they were “disappointed” with the ruling.

It is a blow to the cigarette industry, which earlier this month also failed in an attempt to block new European Union rules that bans 10-packs and forces manufacturers to put health warnings on 65pc of packaging. The EU regulations also come into force tomorrow.

Debt rating agency Moody’s said tobacco companies should be able to mitigate plain packaging, but warned that measure “could reduce cigarette volumes and brand value over time, and there is also the risk that consumers could trade down to cheaper brands.”

Shares in BAT and Imperial, which are both listed in London, fell 1.9pc and 0.6pc respectively, although the latter was trading exdividend.

UK court quashes tobacco firms’ packaging challenge

May 19th, 2016
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http://www.politico.eu/article/uk-court-quashes-tobacco-firms-packaging-challenge/

LONDON — A High Court judge Thursday quashed the tobacco industry’s challenge to U.K. rules to require drab packaging stripped of logos and other branding on cigarettes and other products.

The 386-page judgment addressed all 17 grounds on which the tobacco industry challenged the U.K.’s rules, and sided with the government.

“I have found that the Secretary of State has adduced ample evidence to support the suitability and appropriateness of the Regulations,” the ruling reads.

The U.K. law is part of the country’s effort to implement the EU’s tobacco products directive, which comes into force on Friday.

The British standardized packaging regulations also take effect that day. Health warnings will have to cover 65 percent of the front and back of cigarette packaging. Anti-smoking advocates praised the decision.

“This landmark judgment is a crushing defeat for the tobacco industry and fully justifies the government’s determination to go ahead with the introduction of standardized packaging,” said Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, an anti-smoking charity.

Cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco will be sold in plain brown packages, which have had all the attractive features and colors removed. This so-called plain packaging is not required by the EU, but member countries can go beyond the floor set by the directive.

However, new packets will not be on sale until stocks of existing cartons have been sold over the next year.

The U.K.’s biggest tobacco firm, JTI, and British American Tobacco, both said they will challenge the ruling.

“We will continue to challenge the legality of plain packaging. The fact remains that our branding has been eradicated and we maintain that this is unlawful,” Daniel Sciamma, U.K. managing director of JTI, said in a statement on the decision.

ASH supported the government’s defense and provided written evidence and gave oral testimony to the court.

According to Arnott, who was in the London court, the judgment rejected every argument the industry put forward.

It was “highly critical” of the industry’s use of commissioned expert evidence, its failure to disclose any internal assessments on how packaging design affects children and young people, and the effect of standardized packaging on sales, according to Arnott.

The case was the first challenge to plain packaging laws, coming into force in France and Ireland among other countries.

Tobacco giants to appeal High Court dismissal of plain packaging challenge

May 19th, 2016
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https://www.thelawyer.com/issues/online-may-2016/tobacco-giants-to-appeal-high-court-dismissal-of-plain-packaging-challenge/

British American Tobacco (BAT) will seek leave to appeal a decision by the High Court rejecting its attempt to overturn UK legislation introducing plain packaging for tobacco products.

The ruling, handed down on Thursday (19 May), dismissed the judicial review brought by BAT and other global tobacco giants.

Plain packaging laws, which BAT said breached its intellectual property rights, will come into force on 20 May.

BAT revealed following the ruling it will seek leave to appeal the decision through its lawyers, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF). JT International and Imperial Tobacco confirmed they will join BAT in the appeal, but Philip Morris – one of the lead claimants on the initial action – said it would not.

The judicial review brought by the four tobacco companies was dismissed on Thursday (19 May) in a 400-page ruling by Mr Justice Green.

Green J upheld the lawfulness of the new regulations and rejected the grounds of challenge in their entirety. He said the regulations were “proportionate”, both when they were first drafted by Parliament and in light of recent evidence following similar legislation in Australia.

The tobacco giants had sought to challenge the law on the grounds it was unlawful under international law, EU law and domestic common law.

Earlier this month the EU’s highest court similarly upheld a law that will standardise packaging and ban the advertising of e-cigarettes. Philip Morris and BAT challenged the proposed legislation and said the EU was overstepping its authority to direct laws in member states.

Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, HSF and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom were instructed to bring the legal challenges in the UK. Leigh Day also appeared during the court proceedings last December for the intervener, Action on Smoking and Health.

In a statement, BAT said: “This decision by the English High Court is by no means the final word on the lawfulness of plain packaging. We believe that the judgment contains a number of fundamental errors of law and we are applying for leave to appeal the decision.

“The judgment, if left to stand, should also raise real concerns for many other legitimate businesses as it creates a worrying precedent whereby public policy concerns can ride roughshod over long established fundamental commercial rights.”

The legal line-up:$$$

For the first claimants, British American Tobacco

39 Essex’s Nigel Pleming QC, One Essex Court’s Geoffrey Hobbs QC and Philip Roberts and Brick Court Chambers’ David Scannell, instructed by Herbert Smith Freehills partner Andrew Lidbetter

For the second claimants, Philip Morris

Brick Court’s Marie Demetriou QC and Daniel Piccinin, instructed by Skadden partner Karyl Nairn QC

For the third claimants, JT International

Brick Court’s David Anderson QC and Jennifer MacLeod, and One Essex Court’s Emma Himsworth QC, instructed by Freshfields partner Tom Snelling

For the fourth claimants, Imperial Tobacco Ltd

Blackstone Chambers’ Dinah Rose QC, Brian Kennelly QC and Jason Pobjoy, and 8 New Square’s Lindsay Lane and Maxwell Keay, instructed by Ashurst

For the defendant, the Secretary of State for Health

Blackstone Chambers’ James Eadie QC and Catherine Callaghan, 8 New Square’s Martin Howe QC, Monckton Chambers’ Ian Rogers QC, Julianne Kerr Morrison and Nikolaus Grubeck, and 8 New Square’s Jaani Riordan, instructed by the Government Legal Department

For the intervener, Action on Smoking and Health

Monckton Chambers’ Peter Oliver and Ligia Osepciu, instructed by Leigh Day

Ethiopia: Smoke Screen – Companies Secretively Scramble for Tobacco Monopoly

May 17th, 2016
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201605180909.html

By Dawit Endeshaw and Solina Alemayehus

Philip Morris, British American, Japan International and Sheba will all put forward bids this week.

International tobacco firms are gearing up for some hefty competition, as the auction of 40pc of the National Tobacco Enterprise’s (NTE) shares is scheduled for May 19, 2016.

Three of the largest international players in the 500 billion pound tobacco industry – a group that controls roughly a third of the global market share – have their legal teams in Addis, to ready their bids.

Ethiopia, as a gateway to East Africa, represents a growing, youthful population, with increasing disposable income, is an attractive proposition,” explained a local industry veteran. This is not lost on the competitors.

The NTE has been having countless meetings and receiving visits from representatives of Philip Morris International Inc (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI). The Enterprise imports and packages BAT’s Rothmans and PMI’s Marlboro for the Ethiopian market.

These, as well as some locals, have been requesting information. Guna Trading Plc, one of the companies under the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), has also knocked on the Enterprise’s door.

British American is a multinational company that sold 158 billion cigarettes last quarter, with its revenue growing at an average annual rate of 5.4pc. Almost 30pc of this comes from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, through its affiliates in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

In addition to acquiring local legal firm Kumilachew Dagnew Law Office, the company has sent its legal teams from Nairobi, West Africa and the UK. It has also acquired the services of international law firm, Addleshaw Goddard LLP, and investment consultants, Ernst & Young.

Phillip Morris owns seven of the world’s 15 top selling brands. Its quarterly sales of 209.8 billion cigarettes represented a 2.4pc decrease from the previous quarter. However, with three affiliates on the continent, in Senegal, Mali and South Africa, its African market share is showing an annual growth rate of 0.3pc.

In what some have deemed a lobbying gesture, the company recently donated half a million dollars to the Ethiopian Red Cross Society’s drought response.

The third multinational bidder, JTI, known globally for brands Winston, Camel, and Benson & Hedges, is the Japanese version of the NTE. Its total shipment volume grew by 7.1pc to 94.4 billion cigarettes in the last quarter. The company has seven affiliates in Africa, including Sudan, South Africa and Nigeria.

As interest in tobacco wanes elsewhere – in the US alone the proportion of adults who smoke has dropped from 43pc to 18pc in 50 years – Africa has become the new frontier.

“Shares in the NTE would be a way to cement their presence in the region,” the veteran commented. “And, for PMI, a way to create one.”

But the fields are not all green.

Government made a point of restricting any bidder from having majority shares. Sheba Investment Group, the only other shareholder so far, will only bid for half of the shares on offer, since it already owns 29.05pc of the Enterprise.

The government’s decision to sell only 40pc of the share is puzzling, seeing that health and environmental concerns could have been addressed by existing regulatory measures. If business is what they were after, they could have simply continued with their current holdings, the veteran opined.

Established with paid up capital of 50,000 Maria Theresa dollars during the imperial regime in 1935, the Enterprise was originally named the “Imperial Ethiopian Tobacco Monopoly”. It became a share company in 1999, following the EPRDF-led government’s expressed intention to privatise public owned enterprises.

Over the past five years, the annual turnover of the Enterprise has increased – on average by 190 million Br a year. It offers five brands – Nyala, Gissila, Elleni, Delight and Nyala Premium. Last year, the Enterprise registered 1.76 billion Br in sales, while collecting 394 million Br of profit. It now produces nine billion units of these cigarettes a year – a 50pc increase from four years ago.

BAT is known for five global brands, and had a stock price of 120.57 dollars as of May 13, 2016. PMI, with 15 international brands, is trading at 100.86 dollars per stock, While JT is going for 4,511.00 Japanese Yen on May 13, 2016.

Someone close to the process described the secrecy surrounding the bid as a smoky environment, where bidders were keen to keep a low profile. The giants, however, were too big to hide and there is some speculation about what may happen under the table.

But the bidders have major concerns.

The most obvious one is the limitation on the number of shares any single entity can own. The 40pc cap makes the potential owners of the NTE wary of the representation they will have on the board, which affects their decision-making abilities and the amount of power they will have over the Enterprise.

They are obliged to continue with the existing cigarette brands, and decisions like capital increase can only be made via consensus.

“The government did not want to be outvoted, it wanted to retain veto power,” one representative said. “But I doubt that it considered that it has also given the other members the power to veto any decision the government will try to make.”

The bidders are moving forward with the hope that there will eventually be the opportunity to transfer shares.

A source from the NTE has expressed concern that these companies may risk the fate of the 5,000 permanent and temporary staff.

The veteran disagrees.

“Since most are bidding in the hope of a future where more shares will come up for sale,” he opined. “They will most probably try to keep in the government’s good graces until then.”

Accessing growers of tobacco could prove challenging due to cultural differences, Getu Alemayehu, the public relations head at the NTE shared his concerns. The Enterprise already imports more than 50pc.

Another concern is the monopoly. The law on tobacco and the tender dictate a continuation of the monopoly for at least ten years, with no established upper limit.

“They shouldn’t worry about that,” the veteran added, “a decade is enough time to cement their market presence.”

Criticism was also directed at the NTE for being unprepared. Staff held back or did not have the necessary documentation, participants claimed, while others even gave away papers they were not supposed to.

Another concern is with the process. After the competition, the winning company is required to pay all the money up front. The parties will sign the agreements, then go to the Ministry of Trade and the Competition Authority. Both refer to the investment law, which clearly states that investment in tobacco is not for foreign investors. There is no guarantee that they will accept the merger.

The real challenge will come later, one lawyer predicted. From his observation, neither the Ministry of Trade nor the Public Enterprises legal team is fit to handle a merger of this size and complexity.

“I expect the worst during negotiations with them,” he said.

Southampton base leading research into cigarette alternatives through British American Tobacco

May 14th, 2016
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http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/14493315.Meet_the_tobacco_giant_helping_to_save_lives_from_city_base/

THEIR research could help save lives.

But the irony is they work for one of the largest cigarette manufacturers in the world.

Southampton is described as “mission control” for BAT (British American Tobacco) research and development by group scientific and research and development director David O’Reilly.

More than 400 work in the research and development (R&D) department at the firm’s premises in Regents Park, which has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. That represents two thirds of the global tobacco giant’s R&D workforce.

The department was set in 1956 immediately after the first reports linking smoking and lung cancer were published.

Since then its scientists have been working on ways to reduce the “toxicants” – poisonous substances – produced by burning tobacco and in the past two decades they have been working on safer alternatives to the cigarette.

As David explains: “Burning a cigarette is one of the most complex chemical reactions known to man.”

Lighting up releases 100 toxicants and as David stresses it is the combustion not the nicotine which causes the problem and claims smoking a cigarette stuffed with lettuce leaves would be just as harmful as a Lucky Strike.

Ten years ago BAT began its Next Generation project to research alternatives ways of delivering the nicotine hit millions crave.

Perhaps the simplest and least vaunted of these is Snus, which BAT discovered in Sweden, where it is seen as the natural alternative to smoking.

Although Snus translates as snuff it is not sniffed but sucked. Users slip a sachet of Snus, rather like a mini teabag about the size of a first class stamp, under their top lip.

David, a Snus user, explains that it helped him quit smoking. “You could argue it has saved my life,” he says as he slips one into his mouth and continues to talk normally.

While studies have shown Snus to be safe and Sweden has the lowest levels of lung cancer in the world, the product has proved to a be a bit of a dead end for BAT, thanks to the EU which has banned it sales.

Snus is a victim of the EU’s tobacco products reguations which class it alongside chewing tobacco products such as Skoal Bandits which were banned because of their links with mouth cancer.

The beauty of Snus is that there is no combustion which leads David to talking about “heat not burn”.

Scientists at Southampton are currently working on a device which creates an aerosol like an e-cigarette (scientifically speaking e-cigs produce an aerosol not a vapour) by heating liquid which is drawn across a plug of tobacco.

BAT are to test out this product in Romania but it will be some time before its ready to challenge the e-cig.

BAT were the first major tobacco firm to produce an e-cigarette – the Vype and the labs at Southampton are working on improvements and refinements all the time.

Although vaping has had a mixed press, for once it seems BAT has medical opinion on its side. A new report by the Royal College of Physicians stated e-cigarettes were not a gateway to traditional smoking and should be widely promoted as a substitute to cigarettes as they were likely be beneficial to UK public health.

Public Health England produced findings which said that e-cigarettes were 95 per cent safer than old style smokes.

“People who use E-cigarettes are don’t see themselves as smokers and they feel good for that,” said David.

The World Health Organisation do not take the same view and its report of 2014 the cautioned about potential risks of using e-cigarettes and they are banned in many countries including Argentina, Brazil and Indonesia.

So where will we be 60 years from now? Will fags be consigned to the ashtray of history and will firms like BAT be 100 per cent vape?

David O’Reilly is reluctant to forecast the future and he says BAT is hedging its bets. Using the analogy of video technology he says they will be “backing VHS and Betamax.”

It is likely that tobacco market will be fragmented with no one dominant product and BAT wants to have a product ready for every kind of smoker.

Perhaps the answer will be the Voke – a tobacco inhaler using the world’s smallest breath-activated valve and involving no heating or burning.

It will be aimed at smokers who want to quit or cut down – it will only be available in pharmacies at first but David does not rule out the possibility that it could be become a non-medical product. Tellingly the prototype he shows me looks just like a cigarette packet.

BAT has been in Southampton for 102 years and now employs 1,200 – more than when it closed down cigarette manufacturing in 2005 – making it one of the city’s largest employers.

In addition to the R&D department, Southampton is home to a distribution, IT and leaf sourcing.

David O’Reilly said: “BAT sees Southampton as a great place to do business.”

In the last six years BAT have invested £26 million in their Southampton offices including £2.1m on a mini processing plant to produce prototypes.

After closing their factory in 2005 BAT set up a £750,000 legacy fund which has distributed £442,000 in grants which, the firm claims, have benefitted 454,000 people in the area.

Malaysia’s Top Pension Fund Plans Tobacco Stake Exit, CEO Says

May 13th, 2016
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-13/malaysia-s-top-pension-fund-plans-tobacco-stake-exit-ceo-says

Malaysia’s $170 billion pension fund plans to sell its stake in British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd. as it focuses on investing in assets deemed socially and environmentally responsible, Chief Executive Officer Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said.

The Employees Provident Fund has a 6.9 percent stake worth about 942 million ringgit ($234 million) in the Malaysia-listed company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. EPF doesn’t have a specific timeline to sell its holdings, Shahril said.

“We are conscious that we don’t invest in gambling, alcohol or alcohol-related business,” Shahril said. “Historically, we have this stake in the tobacco company and that we will gradually over time look at disposing.”

The fund also won’t make any new investments in tobacco, he said.

A divestment would coincide with a broader global shift among money managers to increase exposure to investments considered socially responsible. Worldwide so-called sustainable assets under management grew 61 percent to $21.4 trillion from 2012 to 2014, according to a report by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. Yet Asia accounted for only $53 billion of the total — compared to Europe’s $13.6 trillion.

Malaysia’s stock exchange launched the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index in December 2014, comprising companies with “recognized corporate responsibility practices,” according to its website. The index, which includes Malayan Banking Bhd. and Petronas Chemicals Bhd., is down about 8.9 percent over the past 12 months, Bloomberg data show.

Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. is considering paring 2 percent of its holdings in Tenaga Nasional Bhd., IHH Healthcare Bhd. and Axiata Group Bhd., people familiar with the matter said earlier this week. EPF owns shares in all three companies, and Shahril said the pension fund may look at increasing its stake should Khazanah sell.

“We don’t rule out the possibility,” Shahril said. “It all depends on whether the price makes it worthwhile for us to look at, from a risk-return point of view.”

The Kuala Lumpur-based fund recorded 44.2 billion ringgit of gross income from investments last year, 13 percent more than it earned in 2014, according its latest annual report. EPF had 684.3 billion ringgit in assets at the end of last year, with 51 percent invested in fixed income and 43.8 percent in equities, the report said.

Governments urged to hold tobacco companies accountable

May 10th, 2016
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https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2016/05/10/governments-urged-to-hold-tobacco-companies-accountable/

The Vision for Alternative Development (VALD), a non-governmental organisation, has joined advocates from Africa, the United Kingdom and Latin America to call on governments to hold the British American Tobacco (BAT) accountable.

The advocates claim that the BAT had made profit from generations of addiction to tobacco around the world and, therefore, their governments should demand accountability from the tobacco industry.

The call comes as BAT convenes its annual general meeting in London.

Mr Labram Musah, the Programmes Director of VALD, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, said at least it was undoubtedly clear that delays in adopting Tobacco Control laws was largely due to industry interference in public health policies.

The VALD called on Ghana Government and the world over to stand firm and resolute in the midst of tobacco industry interference and formulate lifesaving legislation that would protect present and future generations from the devastating effects of tobacco use and tobacco smoke.

“While BAT’s executives toast to deadly profits and generations of addiction, people and governments around the world are organising to hold them accountable for their abuses,” Mr John Stewart, the Deputy Director at the Corporate Accountability International, has said.

EU Court Upholds Tough Tobacco Law On Packaging, Flavors, E-Cigarettes

May 4th, 2016
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http://www.ibtimes.com/eu-court-upholds-tough-tobacco-law-packaging-flavors-e-cigarettes-2363884

Tobacco companies, led by Philip Morris International, lost an appeal in the European Union’s top court Wednesday against strict packaging rules for cigarettes. The Court of Justice for the European Union also dismissed appeals by Poland and Romania to the EU decision to ban flavored cigarettes, such as menthol.

In the matter of flavored cigarettes, the court reasoned that tobacco products with menthol or another “pleasant flavor” makes them “more attractive to consumers and that reducing the attractiveness of those products may contribute to reducing the prevalence of tobacco use and dependence among new and continuing users.”

In a statement on the official EU website, the court also said that the EU legislature was right in forming the law in 2014, which guards against divergences in different rules of various member states, especially when it came to health matters.

In a setback to tobacco companies, led by Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, the court also ruled in favor of EU regulations on cigarette packaging, which mandate a message and a color photograph — covering at least 65 percent of each packet’s front and back — warning of the dangers of smoking. The court said that “the EU legislature did not go beyond the limits of what is appropriate and necessary,” and added that individual countries could impose stricter rules, such as plain packaging without any branding.

The court also upheld new limits on e-cigarettes, despite manufacturers claiming they should be dealt with under a different law because e-cigarettes were not actually tobacco products. A limit on maximum nicotine content, of 20 mg/ml, was declared valid, along with requirements of specific warnings and leaflets, and a prohibition on advertising.

“The identified and potential risks linked to the use of electronic cigarettes have led the EU legislature to act in a manner consistent with the requirements stemming from the precautionary principle,” the court said.

The ruling by the Court of Justice for the European Union cannot be appealed.

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