ELECTRONIC cigarette firm Totally Wicked will take its fight against European Union restrictions to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The Blackburn-based firm, which sponsors the Bob Lord Stand at Burnley FC’s Turf Moor stadium, won the right to formally challenge the proposed EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) during a hearing in London yesterday.

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Bosses at the Mill Hill-based firm took their case to the Royal Courts of Justice, where Mr Justice Green decided a preliminary ruling reference should be made to the Courts of Justice of the EU (CJEU) to determine whether the directive breaches EU laws.

It is expected that a hearing will take place at the CJEU in 2015.

Totally Wicked has become the first e-cig manufacturer to win the right to challenge a directive that will bring the products within its regulatory scope as a ‘tobacco related product’, despite not containing tobacco, and subject e-cigarettes to more stringent regulation than some conventional tobacco products.

The firm, based in Stancliffe Street also has a factory in Altham. The ruling has implications for the whole industryy