European Union

Poland challenged the provisions of a European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) that prohibit the sale of menthol and other flavored cigarettes by Member States as of May 2020. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed the claim, finding that it was appropriate for the EU to adopt a directive in order to prevent barriers to the trade of such products if different Member States have different laws. The court noted that the TPD is also designed to protect public health. The Court rejected Poland’s argument that the EU should have adopted less restrictive measures, such as an age-related restriction on the use of menthol products, or that the regulation of such products should have been left to individual Member States to regulate, as such alternative measures did not appear to be equally suitable for achieving the objective pursued. The Court also rejected the argument that the measure breached the principle of subsidiarity (which requires that the EU should not regulate on matters that are within the competence of individual Member States).