In the future, smokers will have to see warnings such as shock images of rotten teeth on the selection buttons of cigarette machines if the buttons resemble butt packs.
According to a judgment of the European Court of Justice announced on Thursday, the warnings must be visible on the relevant buttons, even if consumers see the actual box and thus the warning labels before making a purchase (Case C-370/20).
The background to the judgment is a procedure at the Federal Court of Justice, which concerns vending machines in supermarkets, where the cigarette pack falls on the conveyor belt after a brand has been selected. The non-smoking initiative Pro Rauchfrei had sued because cigarettes were being offered at the cash registers in two Munich supermarkets via appropriate machines without warning notices for the customer to be seen from the outside. According to the Federal Court of Justice, the selection buttons were "designed like cigarette packs in terms of brand logo, proportion, color and dimensions".
According to EU law, warnings - such as photos of amputated legs or rotten teeth - must also be shown on pictures of the boxes.
As the ECJ now clarifies, such a “picture of a pack” within the meaning of EU law is already a representation that can be associated with such a pack in terms of “outlines, proportions, colors and brand logo”.
For example, it does not have to be a true-to-the-original photo of a box in order for the representation to be subject to the rules of EU law.