The Court found this practice to be in breach not only of Directives 95/59/EC and 92/79/EC, which provide that manufacturers and importers shall be fr
ee to determine the retail selling price of manufactured tobaccos, but of Article 90 o
f the Treaty, which forbids tax differentials between similar products that discrimina
te against products from other Member States (the overwhelming majority of dark-tobacco cigarettes sold in France
...[+++] are manufactured locally while most "Virginia-type" cigarettes are imported).La Cour a estimé que la pratique française contrevient tant aux directives 95/59/CE et 92/79/CE, qui prévoient que les fabricants et les importateurs fixent librement les prix de vente des tabacs manufacturés, qu'à l'article 90 du Traité qui interdit toute discrimination fiscale entre produits similaires au détriment des produits d'autres Etats membres.