A BAN on e-cigarette products in Switzerland has been overturned, after a vape company challenged it in court.
Swiss business InSmoke fought a tough government restriction, which prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes or e-liquid containing nicotine.
The vaping company argued that the ban had resulted in a "gigantic" black market in e-cigarettes and associated products.
It also reasoned that the sale of nicotine-containing vape juice was allowed in other EU countries, but not in Switzerland.
After the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (FAC) sided with InSmoke, the ban was lifted immediately, meaning the country's 60,000 vapers could start buying products direct from Swiss stores.
Previously, e-cigarette users in Switzerland had been legally allowed to vape but had to source their own vape products by importing it themselves.
According to Switzerland's broadcasting group Swissinfo, the government was already in the process of ending the ban, but the court decision ended the nicotine prohibition straight away.
"The FAC's decision on Tuesday authorizes with immediate effect the import and sale of [bottles] of liquid with nicotine for e-cigarettes," Judith Deflorin of the Swiss federal food safety authority FSVO confirmed to Swiss broadcaster SRF earlier this week.
Complainant Stefan Meile of InSmoke said of the verdict: "So far Switzerland has had a gigantic black market. That was difficult, but that's about to change.
"The first bottles of nicotine-containing liquid have already been bottled, and the first 10,000 are expected to be ready for sale by Monday."
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