Tag: European Union

IMPACT funding announced
Philip Morris International announced yesterday 32 projects that had been selected for the first funding round of PMI IMPACT, a global initiative aimed at supporting organizations in developing and implementing projects dedicated to fighting illegal trade and related crimes.
PMI said in a note posted on its website that the PMI IMPACT Expert Council had reviewed and selected the projects from more than 200 proposals that had come from public, private, and academic organizations in 18 countries.
It said the grants that would be allocated in the first round of PMI IMPACT amounted to about US$28 million.
“The creative solutions and innovative actions proposed by the selected projects can significantly help advance the global efforts against illegal trade and contribute to alleviating the pervasive consequences of crime on our economy, society, and global security,” said Jürgen Storbeck, Expert Council member. “We congratulate the successful applicants for their excellent proposals, which we now look forward to seeing implemented.”
The selected projects are said to cover a broad range of activities in the EU and neighboring countries, in line with the theme of the first round.
Many of the projects would go beyond tackling the illegal tobacco trade to explore the nexus between organized crime, terrorism, online- and offline-trafficking, and the interdependencies between different forms of illegal trade.
“It is impressive to see such a wide range of new approaches that address the core of this complex problem,” said Alvise Giustiniani, PMI’s vice president illicit trade strategies and prevention.
“Illicit tobacco trade is just one face of a growing web of crimes, and we know that it’s only through co-ordinated actions of many public and private actors that we can put an end to these illegal activities that harm consumers, damage businesses, and allow criminals to prosper.”
The projects, which are expected to be completed over the next two years, include:
- Research exploring the scope and drivers of illegal trade;
- Technical solutions and equipment to support law enforcement operations;
- Activities to enhance the capacity and proficiency of law enforcement agencies and other actors; and
- Education and awareness programs, including initiatives for greater cross-sector collaboration.
A list of the selected projects is available on the PMI IMPACT website:
http://www.pmi-impact.com/updates/firstfundinground
PMI, which has pledged US$100 million for three funding rounds of PMI IMPACT said it would soon call for project proposals for its second funding round.
September 8, 2017
No harm-reduction urgency
The EU Commission has sidestepped – for five years at least – a question on ‘the potential of nicotine delivery devices to reduce the harm linked to smoking tobacco’.
In July, Carolina Punset, a Spanish member of the EU Parliament, said in a preamble to two questions posed to the Commission that nicotine-delivery devices had been regulated for the first time in the EU in 2014 through Directive 2014/40/EU.
‘The directive introduced a series of strict criteria concerning quality, safety, consumer information and sale, and recognised the differences between nicotine delivery devices and conventional tobacco products,’ she said.
‘Since the directive was adopted in 2014, a discrepancy in member states’ public policies on those products has been found, particularly with regard to the reduction of harm linked to tobacco consumption amongst smokers and its possible use in policies intended to combat the effects of smoking. Whilst some countries, such as the UK and France, are openly exploring the potential of nicotine delivery devices to complement their tobacco control policies, other countries are still sceptical of them.’
Punset then asked:
1. ‘Does the Commission have data, based on member states’ experiences and figures, on the potential of nicotine delivery devices to reduce the harm linked to smoking tobacco?’; and
2. ‘Have specific monitoring and follow-up mechanisms been introduced for those products to enable the member states to share best practices on the matter?’
In its answer, the Commission pointed out that the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) 2014/40/EU entered into force on May 20, 2016.
‘Article 20 of the TPD contains requirements relating to safety, quality and consumer protection of electronic cigarettes,’ it said.
‘The Commission monitors regulatory developments relating to electronic cigarettes. In this respect, it remains in close contact with member states, to enable the exchange of available information and experience, by means of different fora, including Expert Group on Tobacco Policy, its Subgroup on Electronic Cigarettes and the upcoming Joint Action on Tobacco Control.
‘The input received will feed into findings that will be presented as a part of the report on the application of the TPD, which is due in 2021, as required under Article 28(1) of the TPD.’
August 30, 2017
Graphic images defended
The EU Commission has ruled out the possibility that any of the graphic warnings appearing on tobacco products sold within the EU could contain the pictures of people who haven’t given their consent for their images to be used in this way.
The Commission was replying to three questions raised by the Danish member of the EU parliament, Christel Schaldemose.
In a preamble to her questions, Schaldemose said that on June 15 the Danish local newspaper Folketidende had reported the story of a distraught woman who believed she could recognise her late husband in one of the pictures introduced under the 2014 Tobacco Products Directive. And there had been instances of similar stories from other member states.
‘The Commission has in the past given assurances that any similarity to other persons who have not given their consent is purely coincidental, but nonetheless the pictures are distressing for those affected,’ she said.
Schaldemose then asked:
1. ‘Can the Commission guarantee that everyone depicted has given their consent to the use of the pictures for this specific purpose under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation?
2. ‘In the Commission’s view, do the pictures give rise to ethical concerns vis-à-vis the bereaved who believe they can recognise their late family members?
3. ‘Does the Commission have any plans to replace those pictures which raise doubts about the identity of the person depicted?’
In what appeared to be a utilitarian defense of its position, the Commission said that tobacco was the biggest cause of preventable death in the EU and picture health warnings had been proven to be extremely effective in preventing smoking uptake and encouraging people to quit.
‘The Commission would like to assure that it has taken great care to ensure that the production of the photographic images used as pictorial health warnings has been carefully documented and that all individuals depicted in the library of health warnings set out in Annex II to the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) were fully informed of the use of their image and gave their consent to such use,’ the Commission said. ‘The information on the development of the pictorial health warnings is available on the Commission website.
‘While the Commission has the utmost sympathy for individuals who genuinely believe that persons depicted on the tobacco packages are family members, and to whom the pictures might have inadvertently caused distress, the Commission underlines that any claim according to which the image of an individual would have been used without his or her consent is unfounded.
‘There are no plans to update the picture library in the very near future. However, the TPD foresees the possibility to adapt the text and picture warnings based on scientific and market developments.’
August 18, 2017
No distribution ambitions
The EU Commission has said that it has no plans to propose the setting-up of a centralised European agency or governing body for the distribution of tobacco products.
The Commission’s comment came in reply to a question posed by Cătălin Sorin Ivan a Romanian member of the EU Parliament.
Ivan had asked whether it was true that the Commission was proposing to set up a new central European agency, namely a governing body that would centralize the entire distribution of tobacco products.
‘If this is not the case,’ he asked, ‘is the Commission indeed proposing to set up a body, and if so, what would its competition be and what would its competences be?’
In reply, the Commission said it had no ‘current plans to propose the establishment of a centralised European agency or governing body for the distribution of tobacco products’.
‘The Commission is currently working on the implementation of the systems of traceability and security features for tobacco products provided for under Articles 15 and 16 of Directive 2014/40/EU and has published an indicative implementation timeline on its website,’ it added.
August 18, 2017
EU eyes extending excise
The EU Commission has said that it is looking at whether the tobacco excise system should be extended to cover unmanufactured tobacco.
The Commission made its comment in reply to two members of the EU parliament who had asked what the Commission was doing to fight ‘bulk tobacco inflows into the European Union’.
In a preamble to their question, the Italian MEP, Fulvio Martusciello, and the Slovenian MEP, Patricija Šulin, said the fight against the illegal tobacco trade centered largely on manufactured cigarettes.
However, according to a study carried out by the Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Transcrime in December 2016, the illegal trade in bulk tobacco, or the sale of unbranded cut tobacco outside legitimate channels, had been increasing.
More than €870 million per year was lost in eight EU member states alone, a considerable proportion because of inflows from outside the EU, mainly from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The illegal tobacco trade was in breach of the competition laws laid down in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, but bulk tobacco had never been cited as a growing problem.
‘In the light of the above information, what is the Commission doing to fight bulk tobacco inflows into the European Union?’ they asked.
In answering, the Commission said it considered smuggling of bulk tobacco a growing and worrying phenomenon. The diversion of bulk tobacco of both EU and non-EU origin to be used for illicit cigarette production or roll-your-own cigarettes had been identified as an increasing problem within the EU and caused losses of excise duties for member states.
The Commission said it had adopted in 2013 a comprehensive strategy to combat the illicit tobacco trade and had been implementing it in close co-operation with member states.
‘In addition, to address more specifically the issue of bulk tobacco smuggling, the Commission is currently carrying out a review of Directive 2011/64 on the excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco,’ the Commission said. ‘One of the issues that the Commission is looking at in that context is whether to extend the excise system to raw tobacco, which is currently exonerated from excise duties.’
August 17, 2017
No new anti-smoking ideas
The European Commission has no advice for France on how the country might reduce the size of its smoking population, but it expects the full impact of the measures already taken ‘will become apparent in the coming years’.
In a preamble to two questions asked of the Commission, Mireille D’Ornano, a French member of the EU parliament, said that, according to a study conducted by the French National Public Health Agency, cigarette consumption was still particularly high in France.
‘In 2016, 34.5 percent of the population in the 15-75 age bracket smoked tobacco, 83 percent of whom did so daily, which is a “much higher proportion than in neighbouring countries”,’ she said.
‘In France, smoking is the direct cause of 73,000 deaths each year.
‘Yet, according to the British think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, France has the third strictest anti-smoking policy in the EU.
‘It appears that France has already implemented the recommendations made by the World Health Organization for the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, particularly with regard to the pricing and taxation of tobacco products.’
D’Ornano asked:
1. ‘Does the Commission have any recommendations on how French anti-smoking policy can be made more effective?
2. ‘Does the Commission intend to take ambitious measures against cross-border tobacco tourism and the sale of smuggled cigarettes?’
In its answer to the first question, the Commission said that for effective tobacco control, a comprehensive strategy was needed; one that addressed all aspects of tobacco prevention and consumption at EU, national and local levels. ‘As the honourable member mentions, France already has many tobacco control measures in place and has recently introduced plain packaging,’ it said. ‘We expect that the full impact of these measures will become apparent in the coming years.’
In answering the second question, the Commission said that the availability of both illicit and excessively cheap tobacco products, which might encourage cross-border purchasing, was a concern for the Commission.
‘To reduce the incentives for smuggling from the EU’s neighbouring countries, these are actively encouraged to approximate their fiscal charges to the levels set in the EU,’ it said.
‘Furthermore, Articles 15 and 16 of the Tobacco Products Directive aim to reduce illicit tobacco trade, including smuggling, through traceability and security features for tobacco products. These track and trace systems should be in place by May 2019 for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco and by May 2024 for all other tobacco products.
‘The Commission is currently working to prepare the necessary implementing legislation and an indicative implementation timeline has been published.’
August 16, 2017
Tracking the rationale
A member of the European Parliament (MEP) has expressed concern that the introduction of a tobacco tracking and tracing system could run ‘counter to all business rationale’.
In a preamble to questions posed to the European Commission and that will be answered by the Commission in writing, the Hungarian MEP Norbert Erdős said the purpose of the tobacco tracking and tracing system envisaged in Directive 2014/40/EU was to combat the illegal tobacco trade, which was not only prejudicial to public health and taxation, but also detrimental to the legitimate interests of compliant business operators and lawful tobacco growers.
‘I am concerned, however, that the EU system will be nothing but an isolated solution, as there are no guarantees as to whether third countries, which are sometimes the origin of illicit tobacco products, will introduce a similar system,’ he said.
‘Even if they do, such schemes may not be interoperable with the EU system.
‘Without such guarantees, there is a significant risk that we will be introducing a mechanism of very little (if any) public health and budgetary benefit which runs counter to all business rationale.’
Erdős asked:
* ‘How can the Commission guarantee that the EU tobacco tracking and tracing system will be globally interoperable?’ and
* ‘What consultations are taking place with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat and what internationally recognised standards are being taken into account for this purpose?’
August 15, 2017
Boost for ban challenge
The Swedish government has chosen not to provide written observations to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in relation to a case being brought to overturn the EU ban on the sale of snus outside Sweden, according to a press note issued on Monday jointly by the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) and the NNA Sweden.
The case (Case C-151/17) is being brought by Swedish Match, and the NNA UK has joined as an intervener, based on arguments related to consumers’ human rights and the right to health.
‘All EU member states were asked by the ECJ to submit opinions on a legal challenge by July 7 as part of the court process,’ the note said.
‘In June 2017, … INNCO received reliable information that the Swedish government were planning to submit an opinion to the ECJ identical to their previous EU statements on the health risks and impacts of snus use.
‘Based on Sweden’s historical position this was likely to contain scientifically incorrect information, bias and out-dated references, which would have severely impacted on the judicial process of the court.
‘INNCO and one of their member organisations – New Nicotine Alliance Sweden – launched a joint initiative aimed at averting such misinformation on snus being sent to the ECJ by Sweden, believing their previous oblique submission to the ECJ to be in part responsible for the ban being upheld by the court in 2004.
‘Seventeen INNCO international member organisations wrote individual letters to the Swedish government, outlining their objections and concern were Sweden to choose, yet again, to submit an incomplete and misleading opinion on snus to the ECJ.’
The note said that snus had a 200-year history of use in Sweden without any verifiable evidence of serious adverse health effects. It remained the most widely-used and successful method of assisting smoking cessation.
Sweden now had the lowest smoking rate in Europe. Swedish government data had shown that the proportion of smokers among men aged between 30 and 44 fell to five percent in 2016.
‘Overall, just eight percent of Swedish men now smoke on a daily basis – itself a record-low percentage – compared with a European Union average of just over 25 percent,’ the note said.
‘There is broad academic consensus that Sweden’s success is directly attributable to the broad migration from traditional cigarettes to snus.
‘EU-wide adoption of snus may have contributed towards saving over 300,000 lives per year since 1992 according to a report published 2017.
‘The opportunity for tobacco harm reduction is unprecedented.
‘Sweden is the only EU country in which citizens have legal access to Snus (having gained an exemption as part of their entry to the EU in 1995). Consequently, it is the only country in the world with access to reliable historical data and observations on long term snus use.
‘Sweden’s evidence is therefore invaluable to the ECJ and public health regulators currently deprived of qualitative snus data, in the forthcoming re-examination of the current EU snus ban.
‘We believe that INNCO’s global civil society initiative has been instrumental in influencing the Swedish government’s decision to offer no comment.
‘In so doing, they have chosen to place the value of health and respect for human rights above ideology.’
‘The Swedish government might have chosen to replicate their previous incomplete, opaque submission confirming their well-documented intolerance of all nicotine use. Choosing silence over misinformation was a courageous move in the right direction towards acknowledging harm reduction and human rights.’
August 10, 2017
Airy approach to holes
The EU Commission is keeping a watching brief on the question of ventilation holes in cigarette filters; so, as things stand, nothing will happen before 2021 at the earliest.
In May, an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggested that the US Food and Drug Administration should consider regulating cigarette filter ventilation, up to and including a ban.
It further suggested a research agenda to support such an effort.
A short background to the article said that filter ventilation was adopted in the mid-1960s and was initially equated with making cigarettes safer. But since then, lung adenocarcinoma rates had paradoxically increased relative to other lung cancer subtypes.
Filter ventilation was said to alter tobacco consumption in such a way as to increase smoke toxicants. It was said to allow for elasticity of use so that smokers inhaled more smoke to maintain their nicotine intake. And it was said to cause a false perception of lower health risk from ‘lighter’ smoke.
This led to questions being raised in the EU parliament.
In a preamble to their questions, the Dutch MEP, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, and the Belgian MEP, Frédérique Ries, said that, on May 29, the Dutch national newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ had reported that ventilation holes in cigarettes contributed to an increasing risk of ‘adenocarcinoma’, the most common form of lung cancer.
‘Research from the National Cancer Institute in the US shows a connection between the perforated filter and an increase in this specific type of cancer,’ they said.
‘Based on the findings of the research institute, the ventilation holes in cigarettes could pose a new threat to public health.
‘Moreover, these ventilation holes mislead the measuring equipment that is developed to detect harmful substances in cigarettes.
‘Experts have therefore requested a strict ban on ventilation holes.’
Gerbrandy and Ries went on to ask whether the Commission was aware of the potential health risk of ventilation holes in cigarettes and whether the Commission had taken any action or investigated the issue at an earlier stage?
‘Based on the research findings, does the Commission believe that the European standards for cigarette components and the measurement methods, which are developed to detect harmful substances in cigarettes, should be adapted?,’ they asked.
‘Has the Commission envisaged other steps to further investigate the issue and does the Commission intend to update the current Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) based on the findings of this research?’
In its written answer, the Commission said it was aware of the risk of the use of ventilation holes by tobacco manufacturers to lower measured values of tar, nicotine and CO emissions (TNCO), such as in so-called “light cigarettes”.
‘Branding such cigarettes as “light, “mild” or “ultra-light” had been shown to mislead consumers since they do not have health benefits for smokers. As a result, the Commission banned such descriptors on cigarette packages in 20011. Instead, TNCO were required to be indicated,’ the Commission said.
‘However, as these values were found not to reflect the actual emissions during intended use, the revised Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU2 discontinued TNCO labelling on cigarette packs.
‘In absence of a gold standard and for the purpose of regulatory continuity, the International Organization for Standardization methodology continues to be used for emission measurement. However, Article 4 of the Tobacco Products Directive gives the Commission delegated power to adapt the measurement methods, based on scientific and technical developments or internationally agreed standards.
‘The Commission and the member states have discussed measurement methods in the Expert Group on Tobacco Policy on several occasions. By 2021, the Commission will report on the application of the Tobacco Products Directive. If appropriate and based on the findings of the report, proposals for amending the directive may be foreseen.’
August 2, 2017
Cigarettes top list of fakes
Cigarettes topped the list of counterfeit products seized at the EU’s external borders last year, according to a Commission press note.
New figures published by the Commission show that customs authorities detained more than 41 million ‘fake and counterfeit’ products at the EU’s external borders in 2016.
‘The goods had a total value of over €670 million,’ the press note said.
‘Everyday products which are potentially dangerous to health and safety – such as food and drink, medicines, toys and household electrical goods – accounted for over a third of all intercepted goods.’
Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, was quoted as saying that a high level of protection of intellectual property was crucial to support growth and create jobs.
“Fake goods pose a real threat to health and safety of EU consumers and also undermine legal businesses and state revenues.
“Studies show that the EU is particularly exposed to imports of counterfeit products.”
Moscovici paid tribute to the work done by customs authorities in combating fake goods.
“They need support and resources to enable them to protect us all from the dangers that they can pose,” he said.
“Co-operation between law enforcement authorities should be strengthened and risk management systems upgraded to protect the EU from goods infringing on intellectual property rights.”
At 24 percent, cigarettes comprised the top category of counterfeit products seized. Toys (17 percent) were second, foodstuffs (13 percent) were third, and packaging material (12 percent) was fourth.
The number of seized products was up by two percent on that of 2015.
Eighty percent of the counterfeit goods that arrived in the EU came from China, but large numbers of cigarettes originated in Vietnam and Pakistan.
The Commission’s report on customs actions to enforce international property rights has been issued annually since 2000 and is based on data transmitted by member states’ customs administrations to the Commission.
The full report is at: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/report_on_eu_customs_enforcement_of_ipr_at_the_border_2017.pdf.
July 24, 2017