Totally Wicked becomes the first electronic cigarette manufacturer to win the right to challenge a Directive that will bring e-cigarettes and e-liquid within its regulatory scope as a "tobacco related product" - despite not containing tobacco - and subject e-cigarettes to more stringent regulation than some conventional tobacco products.
Electronic cigarettes are a revolutionary product with the potential to render tobacco cigarettes obsolete and prevent millions of deaths from smoking. Totally Wicked believes that the TPD is likely to adversely impact the availability of good quality, electronic cigarettes and e-liquids, and jeopardise the life-changing potential of e-cigarettes, resulting in a major detrimental impact on the public health of millions of people across the EU.
Specifically, Totally Wicked’s challenge is based on its view that Article 20 of the TPD represents a disproportionate impediment to the free movement of goods and the free provision of services, places electronic cigarettes at an unjustified competitive disadvantage to tobacco products, fails to comply with the general EU principle of equality, and breaches the fundamental rights of electronic cigarette manufacturers.