No export relief

The EU Commission has said that it is not possible to exclude tobacco products for export from the requirements of its pack traceability system.
The Commission was responding to a Danish member of the EU Parliament who had asked the Commission whether the requirement for unique, tobacco-product identifiers would be waived in the case of products manufactured in the EU but intended for export to countries that did not allow such markings.
In a preamble to his questions, Bendt Bendtsen said the rules of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 of December 15, 2017, on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products required in Article 6(1) that manufacturers marked each pack produced in the Union with a unique identifier.
‘What does the Commission intend to do in order to ensure that no tobacco products produced in the EU are prevented from being imported into non-EU countries as a result of the new track and trace rules, which require all EU-manufactured products to show a mandatory unique identifier?’ he asked.
‘Does the Commission intend to take steps to suspend said requirement for products manufactured for import into countries which, as of 20 May 2019, do not allow imports of tobacco products produced in the Union as a result of the EU requirement of a unique EU identifier?’
In response, the Commission said that the ‘inclusion of tobacco products for export in the scope of the traceability system was fully in line with both the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU and the [World Health Organization’s] Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. ‘Therefore, there is no possibility to exclude tobacco products for export from the requirements to be tracked and traced,’ it said.
‘In this context, it is important to note that the measures adopted are designed to address the issue of illicit tobacco trade in the broadest possible way, thus including exports of EU tobacco products to third countries.
‘The Commission is already in direct contact with certain third countries to ensure that EU tobacco products can continue to be exported. The recent Conference of the Parties to the FCTC, called upon Parties to ensure that the rules on packaging and labelling are applied in a manner compatible with the provisions on product traceability.’