Advocat General opinion that Snus Ban should remain pending amended directive

Swedish Match learned today that the Advocat General appointed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given its opinion to the ECJ that it should maintain the current EU ban (with the exception of Sweden) on the sales and distribution of snus and other oral tobaccos not intended to be chewed, pending an amended directive with a provision based on proper reasoning for the ban. The Court will form its final verdict later this year or early in 2005.

“We should remember that this is only a recommendation to the European Court of Justice, and we believe that this recommendation fails to properly take into account several of the issues which in our opinion fully justifies a total removal of the ban,“ says Sven Hindrikes, CEO of Swedish Match. “We should also bear in mind that regardless of the final decision by the ECJ, we see a long term potential in many markets in Europe and elsewhere.”




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