“All out war” if snus threatened by tobacco products directive revisions

Sweden’s Trade Minister, Ewa Björling, has said the EU faces “all out war” with Sweden if revisions to the tobacco products directive due out on Wednesday threaten Swedish snus, according to a story in The Local.

“This has been a low intensity conflict for years,” Björling told the TT news agency after leaving a one-hour meeting with Dr. Tonio Borg, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy.

“Depending on what the directive actually says… we’re facing all out war.”

Meanwhile, according to an Esmerk Swedish News story,Sweden’s Minister for Public Health, Maria Larsson, has said that Swedish snuff had to be exempted from EU regulations on additives if the export ban to other EU countries remained in place.

Larsson said it was illogical that a product that was excluded from the EU’s inner market was subjected to the EU’s control system.

The Swedish government would agree to follow regulations on snus contents if the export ban were lifted, Larsson said.