(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission announced Tuesday that it is taking Finland to court over the sale of oral snuff, called 'snus', on its isolated Aland islands.

The Commission has "no tolerance" for the sale of oral tobacco "given the health risks," said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou in a statement.

The EU's executive arm is hoping the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg will impose a lump-sum fine and, if it doesn't cough up, a daily penalty on Finland for not complying with an earlier ruling on the subject.

The sale of oral tobacco snuff was banned in the European Union in 2001. That does not cover products which are smoked or chewed. However it does include snus.

A moist, powdered form of tobacco, snus is not smoked, inhaled or chewed but tucked behind the upper lip, usually contained in a small perforated paper packet.

Snus is sold aboard the ferries plying the Aland islands, to islanders and Finnish and Swedish tourists.

The Finnish archipelago of 1,527 square kilometres, includes 6,500 isles and islets and a population of 25,000 Swedish speakers.

Since 1921 the islands have been autonomous in the matters of education, health and the police.

The Aland islands formally joined the European Union in 1995 with Finland, but has reserved its "duty free" rights on the ferries to and from Sweden and Finland.

Kyprianou recalled that tobacco use is the biggest avoidable cause of death in the European Union, accounting for over 650,000 deaths each year.

In May Swedish epidemiologists said that their investigations showed that oral snuff caused no risk of lung or mouth cancer but was linked to pancreatic cancer.

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