R v Secretary of State for Health and Others, ex parte Imperial Tobacco Ltd and Others (Case C-74/99); Federal Republic of Germany v European Parliament and Council (Case C-376/98)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 29 October 1999 |
| Date | 29 October 1999 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Division
Before Mr Justice Turner.
Legislation - EC tobacco directive a health measure - whether within legislative competence - injunction to restrain making of regulations
Because a European Council directive was a health measure, despite its express intention that it was the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of member states relating to the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products, it was outwith the competence of the European Parliament and the council to legislate.
Mr Justice Turner so held in the Queen's Bench Division in granting Imperial Tobacco Ltd an injunction to restrain the United Kingdom Government from laying down regulations before Parliament which would have as their object implementation of Council Directive 98/43/EC, adopted on July 6, 1998 (OJ 1998 L213 p9).
Paragraph 1 of article 6 required that member states bring laws into force so as to comply with the Directive no later than July 30, 2001. As a matter of European Community obligation the UK Government was not bound to implement the Directive before then.
Imperial Tobacco argued that it was not good administrative practice, or more directly it was nonsensical, to introduce laws, which included the possibility of criminal sanctions against a wide variety of persons which, quite apart from substantial damage which a tobacco advertising ban would cause to them and others, would, if an application to the European Court of Justice was successful, have then to be revoked.
The aim of the Directive was a public health measure and therefore outwith of the competence of the European Parliament and Council to legislate on, since article 129 (now article 152) of the EC Treaty excluded any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the member states in relation to public health.
Imperial Tobacco contended that the European Parliament and the Council, having recognised in the absence of any power in the Treaty to provide for harmonisation of laws and regulations relating to public health, were attempting to achieve that objective by the use of an impermissible method.
Mr Jonathan Sumption, QC, Mr David Anderson, QC and Miss Jemima Stratford for Imperial Tobacco; Mr Nicholas Paines, QC and Miss Sarah Moore for the Secretary of State for Health.
MR JUSTICE TURNER said that Imperial Tobacco had made...
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