02/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced through a short Communiqué that the District Court of the Eastern District of New York had held on Tuesday a first hearing to listen to the arguments of the prosecution and the defence in the case "European Commission against RJR Nabisco Inc and Philip Morris Companies Inc". The Commission had filed, last 3 November, a complaint against these two American cigarette manufacturers, accusing them of being involved in the large-scale contraband of cigarettes on the Community market. Since then, 10 Member countries have brought their support to the Commission by entrusting its lawyers with defending their interests in this case. This concerns Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg.