Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 4 May 2016 — Republic of Poland v European Parliament, Council of the European Union

(Case C-358/14) ¹

(Action for annulment — Approximation of laws — Directive 2014/40/EU — Article 2(25), Article 6(2)(b), Article 7(1) to (5), the first sentence of Article 7(7), Article 7(12) to (14) and Article 13(1)(c) — Validity — Manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products — Prohibition on the placing on the market of tobacco products with characterising flavours — Tobacco products containing menthol — Legal basis — Article 114 TFEU — Principle of proportionality — Principle of subsidiarity)

Language of the case: Polish

Parties

Applicant: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and M. Szwarc, Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Romania (represented by: R.-H. Radu, D.M. Bulancea and A. Vacaru, Agents)

Defendants: European Parliament (represented by: L. Visaggio, J. Rodrigues and A. Pospíšilová Padowska, Agents), Council of the European Union (represented by: O. Segnana, J. Herrmann, K. Pleśniak and M. Simm, Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendants: Ireland (represented by: J. Quaney and A. Joyce, Agents, and by E. Barrington SC and J. Cooke SC and E. Carolan, Barrister-at-Law), French Republic (represented by: D. Colas and S. Ghiandoni, Agents), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (represented by: V. Kaye, C. Brodie and M. Holt, Agents, and by I. Rogers QC and S. Abram and E. Metcalfe, Barristers), European Commission (represented by: M. Van Hoof, C. Cattabriga and M. Owsiany-Hornung, Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders the Republic of Poland to pay the costs;

Orders Ireland, the French Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Commission to bear their own costs.

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¹ OJ C 315, 15.9.2014.