Ruling Keeps EU Smuggling Case Alive
The European Commission defeated three tobacco companies in a top European court, rebuffing an attempt to derail its smuggling and money-laundering charges against them.
“These cigarette manufacturers cannot prevent the [European] Community from continuing legal proceedings brought by it before the Courts in the United States,” the Court of First Instance said in a statement.
Philip Morris Cos., which along with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and Japan Tobacco Inc. had challenged the commission’s right to take it to court in the U.S., said it would appeal.
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