Japan Tobacco International called the EU’s new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2), set to come into force tomorrow, an attack on adult consumers’ freedom of choice and “yet another example of extreme regulation.”
Under the long-debated new TPD2, cigarette brands will be further reduced as the EU moves to restrict packaging designs and formats.
All tobacco products will now be covered with large pictorial health warnings that take up the majority of the pack surface—dramatically reducing the space available for product information and brand designs.
Many pack formats have also been banned under the, according to JTI, false pretext that this will drive smoking levels lower. This includes an immediate ban on smaller pack and pouch sizes that will force consumers to buy larger formats, and therefore spend more money. The directive will also outlaw menthol cigarettes from 2020.
“The measures in the directive are so complex that regulators in many EU countries have struggled to draft the national laws it requires—leaving everyone confused in a last-minute scramble to comply ahead of the deadline”, said Ben Townsend, JTI’s EU affairs vice-president.