R v Secretary of State for Health ex parte US Tobacco International [1992] QB 353

• A ban on oral snuff under delegated legislation, made after an agreement between govt and Plaintiff under which Plaintiff opened a factory producing oral snuff and agreed not to market to U18s, was held illegal, as during the consultation process the company was not given the scientific grounds on which the ban was made

  • (a consultation was required under the statute before the minister could introduce new regulations).

• However the attempt to base the claim on LE (re the factory agreement) was not accepted by the divisional court. 

Taylor LJ

• The minister’s “discretion could not be fettered by moral obligations to the applicants deriving from his earlier favourable treatment of them. It would be absurd to suggest that some moral commitment to a single company should prevail over the public interest.”