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The ongoing saga surrounding cigarette vending machines continues...

Napthens - March 9th 2011
The Health Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009 which allowed regulations to be made that ban cigarette vending machines.


The subsequent introduction of the Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines) Regulations 2010, which were made on 17 March 2010, has meant the ban is scheduled for 1 October 2011. 

Sinclair Collis, a machine provider, and part of Imperial Tobacco applied for a judicial review of Parliament's passing of the Health Act 2009 on two grounds. They firstly argued that the ban would prohibit quantitative restrictions on imports between members states and secondly that the Regulations breach Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, i.e. that every natural and legal person is entitled to peaceful enjoyment of their possession. 

The judicial review was rejected on the grounds that the ban was appropriate to protect public health, but there is still a glimmer of hope for cigarette vending machine companies because Sinclair Collis has been granted leave to appeal the decision to reject the judicial review. The hearing is scheduled for March 2011. 
 
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