Philip Morris Holland BV is the latest tobacco company to issue High Court proceedings in Ireland challenging new legislation which restricts the advertising and sale of tobacco products.
The company claims the legislation is "unprecedented in the EU and effectively removes competition from the Irish tobacco market".
Mr Justice Kelly yesterday adjourned the matter to October 14th when the Philip Morris claim will join proceedings brought by several other companies which claim that the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002 is "draconian", unconstitutional and in breach of EU law.
The legislation was signed by the President Mrs McAleese in March but the bulk of it has not yet been enacted.
In its statement of claim, Philip Morris argues that the new Act sought to deprive manufacturers of the "most basic ability to have their products displayed in shops at the point of sale."
The company also claims that, while not taking the ultimate step of prohibiting the sale of tobacco products, the Act "virtually eliminates the ability of tobacco manufacturers to market and sell their products to adult smokers".
The Act has "stripped manufacturers of the last, remaining means of communicating with adult smokers in Ireland", the company also complains.
Under the provisions of the Act, adult smokers would be forbidden from even knowing what brands were available at retail outlets, it says.