Press Release: Commission refers Finland to the European Court of Justice a second time over tobacco for oral use

The European Commission has decided to refer Finland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a second time for failing to comply with an earlier judgement by the European Court of Justice on 18 May 2006 concerning tobacco for oral use in the Åland Islands. The Court's judgment in this case (C-343/05) confirmed Finland's failure to comply with Article 8 of Directive 2001/37/EC on the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, which prohibits the placing of tobacco for oral use on the market. The Commission will ask the Court to condemn Finland to pay a lump sum and, if Finland fails to comply before the judgment, a daily penalty. Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the European Union, accounting for over 650,000 deaths each year. It is estimated that 25% of all cancer deaths and 15% of all deaths in the Union could be attributed to smoking. Tobacco for oral use contains particularly large quantities of carcinogenic substances.