I think you need a brief resumé!
One of the smaller web shops got busted following a prosecution by a Finnish anti-tobacco charity. Previously the interpretation of the EU ban on snus law was that if you made an internet transaction with a company in Sweden who sent you the snus then the transaction happened in Sweden so it was OK. The interpretation of the law is now that the transaction happens in the country you are sitting at your computer in = illegal.
Then everyone else (Northerner, Buysnus etc.) stopped selling to the EU from their Swedish warehouses. Snus.de and snus2.com carried on. Swedish Match got very jumpy and made certain that no-one could buy SM products. They were keen to be seen on the right side of the law because there is a large possibility of the ban being overturned completely in the near future with snus being sold legitimately in the EU and SM didn't want to rock the boat.
Odenssnus.com was launched taking a stand against the ruling and allowed us to buy Odens and Olde Viking brands direct (we were very grateful!).
Recently Northerner started selling from their Swedish warehouse again minus the Swedish Match lines because some bright spark on this forum worked out that legally they could if we agreed we'd use it as chewing tobacco! And we all do, right? Buysnus hasn't followed suit yet.
So that's the situation you have stumbled across - it's slowly coming back to normal but we still can't get anything made by Swedish Match except the new Marlbro snus bizarrely. Nice excuse for a trip to Goteburg though.
The up side is that it's very likely that the law will be completely overturned allowing Swedish Match and all other snus manufacturers to sell in the EU including the UK I think. They're thrashing out some small print which bans certain flavours that appeal to kids at the moment, that's going to determine which ones we can get.
Cheers
Squeezy
One of the smaller web shops got busted following a prosecution by a Finnish anti-tobacco charity. Previously the interpretation of the EU ban on snus law was that if you made an internet transaction with a company in Sweden who sent you the snus then the transaction happened in Sweden so it was OK. The interpretation of the law is now that the transaction happens in the country you are sitting at your computer in = illegal.
Then everyone else (Northerner, Buysnus etc.) stopped selling to the EU from their Swedish warehouses. Snus.de and snus2.com carried on. Swedish Match got very jumpy and made certain that no-one could buy SM products. They were keen to be seen on the right side of the law because there is a large possibility of the ban being overturned completely in the near future with snus being sold legitimately in the EU and SM didn't want to rock the boat.
Odenssnus.com was launched taking a stand against the ruling and allowed us to buy Odens and Olde Viking brands direct (we were very grateful!).
Recently Northerner started selling from their Swedish warehouse again minus the Swedish Match lines because some bright spark on this forum worked out that legally they could if we agreed we'd use it as chewing tobacco! And we all do, right? Buysnus hasn't followed suit yet.
So that's the situation you have stumbled across - it's slowly coming back to normal but we still can't get anything made by Swedish Match except the new Marlbro snus bizarrely. Nice excuse for a trip to Goteburg though.
The up side is that it's very likely that the law will be completely overturned allowing Swedish Match and all other snus manufacturers to sell in the EU including the UK I think. They're thrashing out some small print which bans certain flavours that appeal to kids at the moment, that's going to determine which ones we can get.
Cheers
Squeezy
Comment