Anti-smoking researchers Ash Ireland has called on the Government to increase taxes on cigarettes after the European Court of Justice controlled and found that Irish legislation which permits the Government to renovate a minimum price for cigarettes breaks European law.

Officials declared that Ireland had breached a command which installed rules controlling the calculation of excise duty on smoking products. For example, the Luxembourg-based court said that Ireland cracked its legal responsibility under European law by failure to furnish a data on the law to Brussels.

The case increased because the European Commission took against Ireland, France and Austria. The committee disputed that legislation in all three countries undermined free competition by reducing the freedom of manufacturers and importers to resolve the maximum retail selling prices of their products.

Ireland maintained that there was no prohibition on the imposition of minimum prices and argued that the system of minimum prices was justified under European law by the objective of protecting health and human life.

In addition, Ireland Government declared that a tax increase could not guarantee enough high tobacco prices because that raise could be assimilated by manufacturers or importers by losing part of their benefit fringes or even by selling at a loss.

The World Health Organization investigated also the involvements of the European Court of Justice ruling, but said that another layer price was introduced to discourage people from smoking, especially minors.

Ireland has and is allowed to have isolated tax legislation to all other EU countries and the Government has every right to apply taxes which guarantees that tobacco is sold at current and even higher prices.

“First, they must continue to support high prices by increasing tax on cigarettes and loose tobacco. Second, they must bring in legislation instantly to ban tobacco makers from selling tobacco products at destruction,” declared researchers.

The new legislation was welcomed even by tobacco company PJ Carroll which said that the minimum price had become unsuitable because of illicit sales.

Interests about illegal selling of cigarettes were echoed by Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan, who said the increasing cigarette-smuggling trade was destroying all efforts to decrease smoking.