Category: News This Week

The Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) undertaken by the European Commission on its proposed revisions to the 2001 Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) is not sufficiently robust when reviewed from the perspective of regulatory best practice, including the Commission’s own guidelines for RIA’s, according to Oxera, an economics consultancy, in a report commissioned by Japan Tobacco International (JTI).

“The aim of Oxera’s review was not to question the objectives behind the proposals; we support sound tobacco regulation,” said Dr. Gunnar Niels, director at Oxera. “However, from the perspective of best practice in public policy, regulation and economic analysis, we concluded that the RIA is not sufficiently robust and contains a number of significant shortcomings. This is not to say that there is no underlying economic case for some of the proposed regulations, or other forms of tobacco regulation. However, a more robust RIA would benefit regulatory decision-making in this area”, he added.

According to a note posted on JTI’s website, Oxera highlighted four key shortcomings; the first of which concerned a lack of clarity in respect of the objectives. ‘While the overall objective of the TPD revision is said to improve the functioning of the internal market, a number of aspects of the proposed regulations seem to go against criteria that are normally considered to be part of a well-functioning market, including innovation, competition, consumer choice and cross-border trade. In fact, most elements of the RIA seem to be driven primarily by public health considerations, identified as an additional objective, rather than the internal market.’

The baseline scenario was said not to be clearly defined and not to be based on available evidence. ‘The RIA assumes without any supporting evidence that the current trend towards decreasing tobacco consumption will stop if regulations remain unchanged, and that any further reduction in consumption would be attributed to the proposed regulations rather than existing regulations or other factors.’

There was a reliance on assumptions rather than evidence. ‘The RIA assumes that the TPD would result in a 2% reduction in tobacco consumption within five years of the proposed regulation changes. The 2% reduction in tobacco consumption is assumed rather than derived from evidence or from analysis. In addition, the cost-benefit analysis has been applied solely to the final proposed package of measures, rather than to the individual areas separately. This goes against the Commission’s own guidelines.’

And there was a limited reference to evidence or analysis in the RIA to support the proposals. ‘There is limited reference to evidence in the RIA to support the proposals on packaging; ingredients and other tobacco products; and track and trace.’

“This report further demonstrates that the proposal to revise the EU TPD has not been properly thought through, said Thierry Lebeaux, head of EU Affairs at JTI.

“In the interest of quality regulation, we hope that Oxera’s conclusions will be taken into consideration before any new measures are voted on,” he concluded.

Forty MPs have urged the government of Bangladesh to increase by 70 per cent the taxes on bidis, cigarettes and jarda (smokeless tobacco), according to a story in The Financial Express.

The MPs, who wanted to see the increase included in the 2013-14 Budget, were trying to thwart the efforts of about 170 MPs who were said to be seeking to protect the bidi industry.

A senior National Board of Revenue official was quoted as saying that the government had not increased taxes on bidis for three years because of the lobbying by the lawmakers.

The French National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) has developed several plant protection applications for smartphones and tablets to help farmers identify and localize diseases on plants in the field.

In order to reduce the use of pesticides on crops, the early and reliable identification of a disease and the detection of emergent pests have proven to be crucial stages in plant protection. In particular, such information enables an alignment of the diagnosis with the most appropriate protection methods.

An INRA team based in Bordeaux and led by Dominique Blancard and Jean-Marc Armand, has developed several applications, but Di@gnoPlant® Tobacco is the first by INRA to be translated into English for international use. The translation was done by CORESTA (Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco).

The Di@gnoPlant® Tobacco application answers two key questions in respect of tobacco plant protection. Firstly, what disease causes the symptoms? And secondly, what control methods can be used?

At the onset of disease symptoms on a crop, a farmer or field technician using Di@gnoPlant is able to identify diseases on a crop using an image identification module.

It is then possible to obtain information on the characteristics of these diseases, based on an INRA database organised into fact sheets that detail the symptoms and biology of the incriminated pest.

And finally, the farmer or field technician can implement optimised protection methods.

‘When developing this project, the scientists had two aims: to build a continuum of diagnostic/advice tools already accessible over the internet thanks to the e-Phytia® website (English version pertaining to tobacco will soon be on line) and make it available in the field using the new information and communication opportunities provided by smartphones and tablets (App store and Google play),’ CORESTA said in a press note.

‘A complementary application, Vigipl@nt, will be developed in the future for “geolocalisation”.’

CORESTA said that it and INRA would continue to collaborate. ‘Thanks to its worldwide networks and links with numerous organisations and universities, CORESTA will regularly supplement and improve the database on tobacco and hopes this application can assist tobacco farmers all over the world,’ it said.

Kyrgyzstan is looking to attract foreign investment in its tobacco production industry, according to a story in The Times of Central Asia quoting Kyrgyz Agriculture Ministry figures.

The country produced 7,400 tons of mainly Dubek semi-oriental tobacco last year, but the crop’s value, at 631 million soms, was down from 1.083 billion soms the previous year.

Last year, too, Kyrgyzstan exported raw tobacco worth 13.3 million soms while importing from 24 countries cigarettes worth 51.8 million soms.

The Agriculture Ministry has submitted to the Kyrgyz government a proposal for developing the industry through the attraction of direct foreign investments during 2013-2015.

The proposal is aimed at improving the quality of the country’s raw and fermented tobacco, increasing its raw tobacco and cigarette production, increasing the export potential of the tobacco industry, and attracting investments to fund the modernization of fermentation factories and the construction of a cigarette factory in southern Kyrgyzstan. It aims, too, to ban the export of raw, unfermented tobacco.

The proposal includes also measures to improve the living standard of those people living in tobacco-growing regions by the creation of new jobs and the prevention of the ‘artificial lowering of purchasing prices for raw tobacco sold by local farmers’.

Tobacco is grown in three southern Kyrgyz regions — Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has been criticised for holding a meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry, according to a story in The Journal.ie.

The meeting, which was said also to have involved two senior ministers, Alan Shatter and Michael Noonan, was held a fortnight ago but has only recently come to public attention.

The criticism, which seems to have been led by Senator John Crown and MEP Nessa Childers, is aimed at the meeting itself and the fact that it was not made public.

The lack of immediate transparency would seem to have gone against the spirit of the much-invoked Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

On the other hand, it seems unsurprising that such a meeting took place given that Ireland currently has the presidency of the EU and given that discussions are taking place in response to the EU Commission’s proposed revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive.

The spokesman for Forest Éireann has said he is undertaking a tour of Ireland in response to “increasingly restrictive measures on smoking and tobacco, including campaigns to ‘de-normalise’ the habit”.

On the Limerick leg of his tour, John Mallon urged smokers to stand up to “Prohibition extremism in a free society”.

According to a story by Lynda Foley for the Limerick Post, Mallon is concerned that, following the public smoking ban, the prohibition of 10 packs and the display ban, campaigners now wanted to ban smoking in private vehicles carrying children. “What next?” he asked. “All cars? Private homes where children are present? Outdoor parks and beaches?

“And what about other products that carry a potential health risk such as alcohol and fizzy drinks? Will they be targeted too?”

Mallon said he was concerned also with the “unintended consequences of anti-tobacco legislation including the closure of pubs, an increase in the black market sale of tobacco and the increasing prevalence of smoking in Ireland”.

Thailand’s deputy public health minister, Dr. Chonlanan Srikeaw, has announced that a new anti-smoking law will require cigarette packs to carry bigger health warnings, according to a story in the Pattaya Mail.

A new law, which will be implemented on October 2, will stipulate that cigarette warning labels must cover 85 per cent of packs.

Last year, smokers accounted for about 21 per cent of Thailand’s population of people 15 years of age and older: about 11 million.

RFID Journal said yesterday that it will feature a ‘co-located’ event at its 10th European show, RFID Journal LIVE! Europe (www.rfidjournalevents.com/europe).

The co-located event, RFID in Europe (www.rfidineurope.eu), is designed to promote the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, and to connect European end users and system providers.

Both events will be held on October 15 at Dexter House in London, England.