Ireland

Tobacco companies and a tobacco industrial association challenged advertising restrictions in Ireland's tobacco control statutes, claiming violations of constitutional law, European Law and the European Convention on Human Rights. The High Court, sitting as the "Commercial Court," refused to allow the defendants/appellants to present evidence regarding the impacts of tobacco products on minors. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment of the Commercial Court. In its analysis, the Supreme Court found that the case was not commercial in its essence, but constitutional. It therefore focused on the constitutional requirement that the advertising restrictions be proportional to their objectives and concluded that the defendants/appellants should have been permitted to provide oral evidence demonstrating the proportionality of the advertising restrictions.