Plain tobacco packaging ruled 'lawful'

Regulations drafted by the EU to allow for standardised tobacco packaging are lawful, a court has ruled following a legal challenge. An EU directive issued in 2014 had ruled in favour of standardised packaging of tobacco products, as well as the outlawing of menthol cigarettes, by 2020, and the placing of new regulations on e-cigarettes. Poland, Romania and the tobacco industry challenged the validity of the directive, but last week’s ruling in the European Court of Justice dismissed the challenge and upheld the original directive. The ruling that the EU directive on tobacco products is valid means that standardisation of packaging, the future EU-wide prohibition on menthol cigarettes and the special rules for e-cigarettes are lawful. The BMA has lobbied consistently for standardised packaging of tobacco products and the UK is set to introduce plain packaging this month.      The story so far Go ahead for standardised tobacco packaging Northern Ireland joins tobacco packaging plan  Government presses ahead with standardised tobacco packaging 
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news