The EU Law Working Group will host a roundtable to discuss the Stichting II Judgment of the CJEU and its broader implications.
Abstract
On 21 April 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its judgment in Case C-155/24, Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit and Others v Stichting Rookpreventie Jeugd. The case arose from a request by a Dutch youth smoking prevention foundation seeking to verify whether filter cigarettes on the Dutch market comply with the maximum emission levels for tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide established under the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU, which refers to measurement methods set out in international ISO standards not published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The Court confirmed that individuals must be able to verify whether cigarettes comply with the emission levels prescribed in the Directive, in the light of the measurement methods prescribed by the ISO standards to which the Directive refers. Such access must be free — that is, general, effective, without charge and non-discriminatory. The Court further held that, where all parties in fact had access to the official and authentic version of those ISO standards, the foundation cannot rely on alternative measurement methods simply because the standards were not published in the Official Journal.
The judgment builds on the Court's prior case law on the legal status of and access to standards incorporated by reference into EU law — a line of cases including James Elliott Construction (C-613/14), Stichting Rookpreventie Jeugd and Others (C-160/20, February 2022), and Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v Commission (C-588/21 P, March 2024), and addresses questions that had remained unresolved regarding the enforceability of international standards incorporated into EU legislation.
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