TPD a ‘gift’ for black market criminals

Philip Morris International has expressed concern about the implications of some aspects of the new EU Tobacco Products Directive.

“The Tobacco Products Directive adopted by the European Parliament today represents a worrying departure from the EU’s basic standards of proportionate, evidenced-based policymaking, which will further erode intellectual property rights and undermine the EU Charter where these rights are protected,” said the company’s  EU region president, Drago Azinovic, speaking yesterday.

“Instead of further harmonizing the internal market, a stated objective of the directive, measures in the TPD will make the EU less competitive and be a gift for the criminals profiting from the black market in tobacco.

“This will be a blow to the hundreds of thousands of people working in the legal industry and member state governments now faced with filling budget gaps.”