Denmark referred to court over failure to ban less risky tobacco product

The European Commission on Thursday referred Denmark to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) for not banning all forms of snus.

With the exception of Sweden, the sale of snus is prohibited throughout the EU.

The commission said that it was referring Denmark to the CJEU for failure to amend its national legislation so as to ban all forms of snus.

It said it had asked Denmark on Oct. 25, 2012, to take all necessary steps to comply with the relevant directive (2001/37/EC) and to inform it about the adopted national legislation within two months.

“Until now, Denmark has not notified any such measures to the commission and continues to be in breach of EU law,” the commission said.

The commission is acting on this infringement despite the fact that many people believe the use of snus is hugely less risky than smoking and despite the fact that it remains legal to sell cigarettes throughout the EU.

In Sweden, the only EU member state where it is legal to sell snus, the incidence of smoking among men and the level of tobacco-related cancers have dropped significantly as snus use has increased.