§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they propose to restrict further the advertising and marketing of tobacco. [HL3174]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe ban on advertising was to be introduced on 10 December 1999 but the tobacco companies succeeded in the High Court in winning a stay on the Government implementing the regulations, pending the decision of the European Court of Justice on the validity of the Directive 98/43/EC. The Government appealed the High Court's decision successfully, but the companies have appealed to the House of Lords and the stay on implementation remains in force pending the outcome of that appeal.
On 15 June the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice delivered his opinion that the legal base of the EU directive which seeks to ban tobacco advertising was invalid and the directive should, therefore, be annulled. The Advocate General's opinion is not binding on the European Court. However, in the light of the opinion we are preparing primary legislation to deliver our manifesto commitment to ban tobacco advertising. We will bring forward this legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows, as the Government attach a high priority to it.