IMPORTANT!!!

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A U.S. judge said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't have authority to regulate electronic cigarettes, dealing a blow to the agency's efforts to regulate tobacco products as drugs or devices.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sided with electronic cigarette makers  in finding that the FDA has no authority to regulate the products and can't stop them from entering the country.

"This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices," Leon said in his ruling. He added the FDA's "tenacious drive to maximize its regulatory power has resulted in its advocacy of an interpretation of the relevant law that I find, at first blush, to be unreasonable and unacceptable."

The FDA has seized shipments of electronic cigarettes, which look and taste like cigarettes but don't contain tar. Smoking Everywhere, one of the largest makers of electronic cigarettes, had challenged the FDA's authority over the products.

-By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires