A French member of the European Parliament has asked the EU Commission how it intends to check that tobacco manufacturers are complying with maximum cigarette delivery levels.
In a preamble to two questions, Philippe Juvin said that Article 3 of the Tobacco Products Directive laid down maximum emission levels for tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide and other substances.
‘With the same goal of curbing the harmfulness of tobacco products, Article 5 sets out that member states must require manufacturers to submit a list of the ingredients and emissions in their tobacco products.
‘In France, the National Committee Against Smoking (Comité national contre le tabagisme – CNCT) filed a complaint on 18 January 2018 against a number of cigarette manufacturers for ‘endangering’ the lives of others. The CNCT suspects that cigarette emission levels, which are duly regulated in the above directive, have been rigged.’
Juvin asked:
- ‘How will the Commission check that manufacturers are complying with Article 3 of the Tobacco Products Directive?
- ‘With a view to preventing emission levels from being rigged in any way and in accordance with Article 4 of that directive, does the Commission intend to adopt any delegated acts on measurement methods?’
The Commission is due to answer these questions in writing.