Nine object to Ireland’s plain packs plan

Nine countries had objected to Ireland’s plain tobacco packaging proposals by Thursday, the deadline for lodging such objections with the European Commission, according to a story in The Irish Times.

The nine countries, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, have a total population of 201.7 million or 40 percent of the EU’s population.

The Times’ story explained that countries filed so-called detailed opinions when they believed regulations in one country ‘may create obstacles to the free movement of goods, the freedom to provide services or the freedom of establishment of services operators within the internal market’.

The Irish Department of Health has said it is considering all of the opinions lodged and that it would respond to the Commission in due course.