PUBLIC HEALTH : COURT UPHOLDS BAN ON TOBACCO ADVERTISING.

• Position: European Union Court of Justice - Brief article

Germany has lost a case it took to overturn an EU-wide ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The EU Court of Justice on 12 December dismissed all of Germany's arguments, notably that the wrong legal basis was used in adopting the Tobacco Advertising Directive (2003/33/EC). This is a remarkable turnaround because the ECJ in October 2000 sided with Germany by annulling a previous ban (Directive 98/43/EC).

The reason EU lawmakers have succeeded this time round is that the 2003 directive's scope - in force since 31 July 2005 - is more limited. It covers advertisements and sponsorship in newspapers, on the internet and radio broadcasts (television is already covered by the Television Without Frontiers Directive), but it excludes ads in trade magazines, in publications destined mainly for non-EU markets, bulletins produced by local associations, posters, telephone directories, leaflets and cultural event programmes.

Germany, a long-time supporter of the tobacco industry, claimed the...