Tag: European Union

In principle yes; but…
There are, as a matter of principle, no limits on the number of duty-paid cigarettes a private individual can buy and transport with him when traveling between EU countries, the EU Commission has said in answer to two questions by the Lithuanian member of the European Parliament, Bronis Ropė.
But it perhaps should have added that it would be best for the individual if he traveled with a lawyer.
In a preamble to his questions, Ropė said he had been informed that a Lithuanian citizen traveling in his own car through Germany on August 10, 2017, was asked to pay customs duty on 10 cartons of cigarettes – excisable goods legally acquired in Lithuania that he was carrying in his car.
The driver’s wife and young child were also traveling in the car.
Ropė said the German officers, of the Hauptzollamt Magdeburg customs office, had drawn up report No K1/365/2017.
He then asked the Commission:
1. Whether the German customs officers were entitled to request payment of customs duty for excisable goods that were legally acquired in the EU and were in transit through the territory of Germany; and
2. If so, could the Commission please specify the legal grounds pursuant to which German officers are entitled to request the payment of such duties?
In its reply, the Commission said there were, as a matter of principle, no limits on the number of duty-paid cigarettes a private individual could buy and transport with him when traveling between EU countries.
‘Excise duty is due in the member state of purchase and not in the member state of destination, provided that the cigarettes are for the traveler’s own use and are transported by the traveler.
‘To determine whether these products are for the traveler’s own use, member states have to take all the following factors into account:
* The commercial status of the holder of the products and the reasons for holding them;
* The place where the products are located or, if appropriate, the mode of transport used;
* Any document relating to the products;
* The nature of the products;
* The quantity of the products.
‘With regards the last element, EU legislation provides guide levels (800 cigarettes), which member state authorities may use in certain situations. However, these guide levels are indicative only.’
The Commission said it could not comment on the specific case raised by Ropė.
However, it added, EU citizens had access to the competent national courts if they considered that measures taken were unjustified or infringed EU law.
January 12, 2018
Tracking defended
The EU Commission has said that it has made a priority of minimising the burden of its tobacco-products tracking-and-tracing system on small and medium-sized enterprises, and ‘traditional producers’.
The Commission last week provided written answers to two questions posed by the UK member of the European Parliament, Bill Etheridge.
In a preamble to his questions, Etheridge said that with all large tobacco manufacturing plants having been closed in the UK, leaving thousands of citizens jobless, the tobacco manufacturing sector had been left to a handful of micro or small family-owned companies that were rooted in their original localities.
‘These companies rely on their ability to export the traditional tobacco products (e.g. pipe tobacco, nasal snuff, chewing tobacco) they produce and distribute,’ he said.
‘Is the Commission aware that its decision to extend the scope of “track and trace” to tobacco products destined for export:
1. ‘Potentially oversteps the mandate that the European Parliament has given to the Commission under the European Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU)
2. ‘Establishes a self-imposed trade barrier which disproportionally impacts the smaller and traditional tobacco manufacturers, ultimately driving them out of business?’
The Commission began its reply by saying that tobacco was responsible for 700,000 premature deaths in the Union every year. This made it the ‘most significant’ cause of premature death in the Union.
‘Illicit tobacco products are less likely to be in compliance with tobacco control legislation and provide artificially cheap supplies of tobacco that affect the uptake and prevalence of smoking, in particular for young people,’ the Commission said. ‘The traceability measures provided for in Article 15 of the Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) constitute a key means for combatting fraud and strengthening tobacco control in the Union.
‘The scope of the traceability measures and in particular the obligation to apply unique identifiers to all tobacco product packets manufactured in the Union is set by Article 15 of Directive 2014/40/EU. In so doing it reflects the obligations of the state parties under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, which Article 15 of the Tobacco Products Directive is intended to implement in the EU. Article 8 of the Protocol requires its Parties to establish a tracking and tracing system for all tobacco products that are manufactured in or imported into’ their territory.
‘Minimising the burden of the system on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and traditional producers has been a priority for the Commission from the outset and a detailed assessment of the measures’ proportionality and expected impact in this respect was carried out. In addition, a number of lighter measures intended to reduce the burden on SMEs have been foreseen throughout the Commission’s proposals.’
January 11, 2018
Smoke screen
The European Commission has been asked whether it is officially in favor of banning smoking in films.
The French member of the European Parliament, Marie-Christine Arnautu, said in a preamble to her question that the idea of banning smoking in films, inspired by a fanatical obsession with public health, was absurd, patronising, invasive, disproportionate and a threat to freedom of artistic expression.
‘However, during a French Senate debate held on 16 November 2017 on the latest increase in cigarette prices, a Socialist senator complained that films were shamelessly encouraging smoking,’ Arnautu said. ‘The Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, then immediately expressed her wish to “end the trivialising of smoking on social media and in films”, an assertion that raises questions about a possible ban on cigarettes on the silver screen.
‘If we were to take such moralising to its logical conclusion, we would also have to censure all the “deviant” behaviour on display in so many films, such as driving over the speed limit, fighting, stealing and other crimes. But why stop there when we could also ban misogynist remarks, unhealthy meals, alcohol, high-polluting cars and, while we’re at it, the cult dialogues of Michel Audiard’s films?
‘In response to the controversy, Commission spokesperson Anca Paduraru said that “the Commission welcomes all measures taken by EU countries that de-glamorize smoking and reduce uptake, particularly amongst young people” (Euractiv, 21/11/2017).’
Arnautu asked, ‘Is the Commission officially in favour of banning smoking in films?’
The Commission is due to answer in writing.
December 22, 2017
Tracking rules adopted
Rules governing the EU’s proposed tobacco-products tracking-and-tracing system have been adopted.
A press note issued on Friday by DG Sante (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety) said that the measures that needed to be enacted to put in place the EU-wide tracking-and-tracing system planned for under articles 15 and 16 of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive had been clarified in secondary legislation adopted by the Commission.
‘The implementing regulation on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products lays down rules that will ensure that all unit packets of tobacco products produced in, destined for or placed on the EU market will be marked with a unique identifier and their movements recorded throughout the supply chain (from the manufacturer to the last level before the retail outlet),’ the press note said.
‘It obliges each member state to appoint an entity (‘ID issuer’) responsible for generating and issuing the unique identifiers, and lays down clear rules to ensure that the traceability system remains fully independent, notably from the tobacco industry, and that functions are carried out impartially.
‘The implementing decision on technical standards for security features applied to tobacco products obliges EU countries to require security features, composed of at least five types of authentication elements (including overt, covert and semi-covert), to be applied to unit packets of tobacco products. One of these elements must be provided by an independent third-party provider.
‘Member States must ensure they have the necessary means to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the security features.’
The press note went on to say that EU countries and ‘economic operators’ could now start preparatory work for the two systems of traceability and security features.
‘These should be in place by 20 May 2019 for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco and by 24 May 2024 for all other tobacco products (such as cigars, cigarillos and smokeless tobacco products).
December 18, 2017
It’s all very tortured
Sinclair Davidson, a professor of economics in Australia, is due to tell the attendees at a dinner in Brussels on Thursday how it is possible to manipulate data to justify public policy.
The dinner is being hosted by the European smokers’ group Forest EU and the title of Davidson’s talk will be: ‘How to torture data to justify public policy’.
The event is due to address a number of questions including:
- How do public health groups cheat, change the rules of the game and move the goalposts without getting caught?
- Are public health organizations in the process of being disrupted?
- Five years on since it was introduced in Australia, has the mandatory standardized packaging of tobacco been a success or a failure?
Davidson is professor of institutional economics, finance and marketing at RMIT [Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology] University. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs and academic fellow at the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance.
Speaking ahead of the event, Davidson said that government had lost its way. “Since abandoning its role as an impartial player in society it has taken to abusing the trust civil society invests in government,” he said. “The corresponding abuse of evidence based policy should alarm everyone with an interest in good policy.”
Meanwhile, Guillaume Périgois, spokesman for Forest EU, said too many regulations designed to advance public health were based not on undisputed evidence but on flawed data and wishful thinking.
“The danger is that inaccurate or cherry-picked data will be used to justify more nanny state policies, from higher taxation to alarmist warnings and further restrictions on lifestyle choices,” he said.
“Anyone who cares about scientific probity and good governance should be concerned by the questionable data that is often peddled by lobby groups and government officials.
“It’s time to question and hold to account the public health industry and the flawed and tortured information it frequently disseminates.”
December 5, 2017
EU looks at ‘stronger’ rules
The EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety has indicated that he is exploring the possibility of introducing ‘stronger’ regulations in respect of vapor products, according to a EurActiv.com story relayed by the TMA.
Vytenis Andriukaitis was quoted as saying that he saw the possibility of encouraging “our agents to look into electronic cigarettes, and how to go in the direction of stronger regulation…”.
‘Stronger’ regulation here seems to equate with more restrictive regulation; so, for instance, stopping advertising and online sales of all vapor products.
Andriukaitis pointed out that the tobacco industry was developing new electronic devices, including heat-not-burn devices, that were not covered by existing EU directives.
He said tobacco companies were “already feeling the pressure” from the implementation of the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive and were allegedly exploring ways to bypass it and mislead consumers.
Many market “deviations” had been noticed, he added.
November 28, 2017
Tracking goes off-piste
A number of tobacco manufacturers are concerned that the EU wants to allow member states to designate their own product codes as part of a tobacco tracking and tracing system, according to a story by Jonathan Stearns for Bloomberg News.
The introduction of such a system, which is supposed to track cigarette packages from the factory floor to the retail shelf using electronic codes, has, in principle, been supported by manufacturers.
But they are said to be unhappy with the European Commission’s proposal to let EU countries deviate from the current industry standard for serial codes on products.
The Commission says any extra manufacturing costs caused by such deviations would be negligible.
But the discrepancy is said to threaten to create technical hassles for cigarette manufacturers and undermine track-and-trace technology investments that, in the case of British American Tobacco alone, are said by the company to have totalled £60 million pounds ($79 million) since 2014.
The tobacco industry would prefer a one-stop shop for European codes.
It wanted to avoid a non-harmonized ID format that would require different coding standards on the same packaging line, reported Stearns.
While packs destined for sale in more than one national market in the EU were already differentiated for language and images, differing codes would further complicate production.
The tobacco industry had expected its deals with the EU’s anti-fraud office to be the basis of the track-and-trace rules stemming from 2014 legislation.
“Our member companies have already invested hundreds of millions of euros in voluntary co-operation with the EU anti-fraud office to anticipate the need for tracking and tracing,” said Alisdair Gray, secretary general of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers, which includes BAT, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands.
“The commission proposal paves the way for a highly complex system in which each member state works in isolation from the other.
“The system has been poorly thought through and may prove unworkable despite having over three years to establish it.”
Stearns’ story is at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-19/big-tobacco-fumes-over-new-eu-salvo-in-cigarette-smuggling-war.
November 20, 2017
Track-and-trace under fire
A UK member of the European Parliament has suggested that the European Commission’s plans for a tobacco-products track-and-trace system would disproportionally impact small and traditional tobacco manufacturers.
In a preamble to two questions put to the Commission, Bill Etheridge said that now that all of the UK’s large tobacco manufacturing plants had closed, leaving thousands of citizens jobless, the tobacco manufacturing sector was left with a handful of micro or small family-owned companies that were rooted in their original localities.
‘These companies rely on their ability to export the traditional tobacco products (e.g. pipe tobacco, nasal snuff, chewing tobacco) they produce and distribute,’ he wrote.
‘Is the Commission aware that its decision to extend the scope of “track and trace” to tobacco products destined for export:
1. Potentially oversteps the mandate that the European Parliament has given to the Commission under the European Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU)?
2. Establishes a self-imposed trade barrier which disproportionally impacts the smaller and traditional tobacco manufacturers, ultimately driving them out of business?’
The Commission is due to reply in writing.
October 31, 2017
Spotlight on acetate JV
The European Commission has opened an ‘in-depth investigation to assess the proposed creation of an acetate flake and acetate tow joint venture by Celanese and Blackstone under the EU Merger Regulation’.
In a press note issued on Tuesday, the Commission said that it had concerns that the transaction might reduce competition in the acetate tow market.
‘The proposed joint venture would combine the acetate flake and tow activities of Celanese with Blackstone’s recently acquired portfolio company Acetow, which is active in the same areas,’ the Commission said…
‘The Commission has preliminary concerns that the proposed transaction could reduce competition in the acetate tow market. Celanese and Blackstone’s Acetow are, respectively, the second and third largest manufacturers of acetate tow at global level excluding China. The merged entity would become the new market leader with the risk of significantly reducing competition in the industry.
‘After its initial investigation, the Commission considers that Eastman and Daicel, the only two remaining major competitors, would not exert sufficient competitive pressure on the merged entity.
‘Moreover, the industry is characterised by high barriers to entry.
‘Finally, the Commission has preliminary concerns that the proposed transaction would make tacit co-ordination between tow suppliers more likely.’
The transaction was notified to the Commission on September 12.
The Commission now has 90 working days, until March 5, to make a decision.
The Commission said that the opening of an in-depth inquiry did not prejudge the result of the investigation.
October 19, 2017
Tracking compromised
The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) has warned that there are ‘failings and loopholes’ in EU plans for tobacco security, according to a story in Packaging News.
The organization is concerned about the implementation of the track-and-trace and security-feature requirements of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive.
It said that the draft legislation gave no guarantee of independence from the tobacco industry and that it did not provide strong authentication tools for controllers and consumers.
Juan Yañez, chair of the ITSA, is due to highlight the group’s concerns to members of the European parliament.
He said that manufacturers could “manipulate” the unique identifier for track and trace purposes, because they would be able to print it onto cigarette packs themselves, or even not print it at all.
The Packaging News story is at: https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/tax-trade-body-warns-eu-tobacco-track-trace-plans-21-09-2017.
September 22, 2017