Tag: European Union

Time for EU to reflect
Forest EU, which campaigns for smokers’ rights in Europe, has called for a hold to be put on tobacco legislation until it has been established whether the regulations introduced as part of the revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) have worked.
The organization has issued its call ahead of the May 20 deadline for EU countries to no longer allow on their markets tobacco products that aren’t compliant with the provisions of TPD2.
The call follows and to some extent echoes a statement by Forest UK that the TPD2 regulations coming into force ‘infantilise’ consumers and will make no difference to public health (see New rules seen as infantile, May 17). But it also widens the debate.
Guillaume Périgois, director of Forest EU, said in a press note that the TPD2 was introducing new measures intended to combat the illegal trade in tobacco products, including an EU-wide tracking and tracing system for the legal supply chain and a security feature composed of holograms.
“The measures designed to restrict trade in illegal tobacco are an implicit recognition that over-regulation encourages counterfeiting and smuggling of tobacco, with all the harmful side effects this causes, including boosting organised crime and the availability of low quality products,” said Périgois.
The press note said that in December 2012, the European Commission adopted its proposal to revise the previous EU Tobacco Products Directive, or TPD1, following a public consultation that had generated 85,000 responses, the majority of which opposed the key measures featured in the proposal.
‘The accompanying Impact Assessment asserted that the proposal will create a two percent drop in consumption (representing around 2.4 million smokers, compared to the 100 million adult smokers in the EU) within five years after the transposition (i.e. 2021), but the Commission acknowledges that this figure is just “a best effort estimation”,’ the note said.
“The new regulations are a disgraceful attempt to denormalize both the product and legitimate consumers,” said Périgois.
“The European smokers opposed TPD1 then and they oppose TPD2 now.
“There’s no evidence they will have the slightest impact on public health.”
Forest EU said it was calling for a ‘neutral’ review of the impact of TPD2.
“The EU should attempt no further legislation on tobacco before we know how this directive has worked,” said Périgois.
“This will give the EU a chance to review the impact of these policies and, where necessary, amend or repeal regulations that deliberately discriminate against 100 million adult consumers.”
May 18, 2017
Tax key to illegal trade
Despite measures taken since 2013, the challenge posed by the illegal tobacco trade remained as ‘preoccupying’ today as it had been in the past, according to a report last week by the EU Commission to the Council and Parliament.
‘The EU and its member states have no choice but to continue to address the threat from illicit tobacco and its changing patterns with determination, since this illicit activity is detrimental to public health, finances and security,’ the report’s conclusion said.
‘With its combination of strong legislative responses, robust law enforcement and enhanced co-operation at national, European and international levels, the 2013 Strategy remains relevant. It is too early to pass final judgment on its effectiveness, since its key components – such as tracking and tracing – are not yet applicable.
‘Looking at the growing threat from cheap whites in particular, the FCTC [World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] Protocol – once fully applied by a critical mass of countries, including key source and transit countries – will be a key tool in combating the global illicit tobacco trade. However, while tracking and tracing in particular will help to secure the legal supply chain, additional tools will be needed to address domestic or foreign clandestine cigarette production effectively.’
One of those tools is seen as the reduction of price differentials between countries – that is, the reduction of tax differentials.
‘Despite the actions taken so far, the size of illicit trade remains by and large stable,’ the report said in a section headed Further reflections. ‘In particular, the phenomenon of cheap whites and counterfeits, while not entirely new, has become increasingly troublesome over the last years. Therefore, now seems to be the right moment for considering additional measures to effectively complement the 2013 Strategy in the future.’
One of those measures would involve reducing the ‘incentives’ for smugglers.
‘Currently, the main incentive for the illicit tobacco trade is the possibility to exploit price differentials between EU member states and neighboring countries, but also between markets in EU member states,’ the report said. ‘One standard 40ft container holding some 20 million cigarettes smuggled into the EU can yield up to €2 million in illegal revenue depending on the tax burden. The level of taxation is a major factor in the price of tobacco products, which in turn influences consumers’ smoking habits, following the rules of price elasticity. A certain degree of upward convergence between the tax levels applied in the member states would help to reduce fraud and smuggling. Neighboring countries such as Belarus with an excessively low tax rate on tobacco products should be urged to approximate their excise duty rates with the minimum rates in the EU, not least in the shared interests of health policy and raising public revenue.’
The report goes on to describe how the effect of reduced incentives could be enhanced if in parallel smugglers’ production and distribution costs were driven up and if sanctions had a sufficiently dissuasive effect.
The Commission said that based on its present analysis and further dialogue with stakeholders, it would complete its evaluation of the present strategy and decide on the appropriate follow-up in 2018.
May 16, 2017
Tax on e-cigs should be zero
Declining smoking rates in Europe mean less tax revenue for many fiscally strained governments, but trying to make up for these losses with a tax on electronic cigarettes would be a big mistake, according to piece by Alex Brill published on euractiv.com.
Brill is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington DC-based think tank.
Following actions by some European nations, the European Commission was now contemplating the proper tax treatment of e-cigarettes and had just finalised a public consultation on the topic, he wrote.
Taxing e-cigarettes would have a negative effect on nascent, but important, public health gains for four reasons.
The first reason was that e-cigarettes posed a far lower risk to the health of users and non-users than did traditional tobacco cigarettes.
The second was that e-cigarettes were effective tools for helping smokers quit.
The third was that e-cigarette usage was still relatively low and a tax would discourage smokers from switching.
And the fourth was that taxing e-cigarettes had not proven to address budget woes.
Brill said that the good news was that the clinical evidence clearly indicated that e-cigarettes were less risky substitutes for conventional cigarettes.
‘Given that a core objective of the European Commission Tobacco Products Directive is to ensure “a high level of health protection for European citizens”, the proper tax to levy on e-cigarettes should be self-evident: none,’ he wrote.
The full euractiv.com version of Brill’s piece, which has been published also in media outside of Europe, is at: https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/opinion/dont-thwart-an-ally-in-the-war-on-tobacco/.
May 15, 2017
EU names sensory panel
The EU Commission has appointed the six members of its newly-established independent advisory panel (IAP) assisting member states and the Commission in determining whether tobacco products have a characterizing flavour.
It has published also a reserve list of suitable candidates.
The panel members were named in a Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) newsletter as:
- Prof. Andrea Buettner, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, Freising, Germany and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany;
- Dr. Garmt Dijksterhuis, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
- Dr. Jan van Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
- Mr. Emmanuel Vanzeveren, It makes sense SPRL, Braine Le Comte, Belgium;
- Dr. Wouter Visser, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands;
- Assoc. Prof. Efthimios Zervas, Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece.
‘These members are highly qualified independent experts covering the areas of sensory, statistical and chemical analysis,’ DG Sante said…
‘The members have been selected by an evaluation panel [pursuant to Commission implementing decision (EU) 2016/786], and appointed in their personal capacity to act independently in the public interest.’
The first meeting of the panel is due to take place in Brussels on June 1.
The IAP is tasked with issuing opinions on whether a tobacco product has a characterising flavour, and with specifying and updating, as appropriate, the methodology for the technical assessment of products as set out in the Commission implementing decision (EU) 2016/786.
In addition, the panel might be consulted by the Commission on other matters relating to the assessment of characterising flavours.
The panel will be able to request input from a technical group of sensory and chemical assessors that is still to be established by the Commission via a public procurement procedure.
April 25, 2017
Parting shot
As the UK prepares to leave the EU, a smokers’ rights group founded in London in 1979 is launching a new campaign in Brussels.
The Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest) campaigns against what it says are ‘excessive regulations’ on smoking and tobacco.
Commenting on the launch of Forest EU, Simon Clark, the director of Forest, said that the war on tobacco had gone too far.
“Tobacco is a legal product yet smokers are being subjected to increasing attacks and restrictions on their habit,” he said. “Enough is enough.
“Decisions made at EU level affect the lives of tens of millions of adults across Europe yet the revised Tobacco Products Directive, currently being enforced in member states, was introduced with very little engagement with ordinary consumers.
“Smokers pay a huge amount of tax on tobacco, as much as 80 or 90 per cent in some countries. That alone gives them a right to be represented in the political process. Instead they are often ignored or treated like naughty children incapable of making informed decisions.
“As the UK prepares to leave the European Union we are delighted to be starting a new, EU-centred, chapter in our history. We will be bringing our trademark events to Brussels including smoker-friendly receptions and seminars. Our goal is to put consumers at the heart of the debate.”
Guillaume Périgois, director of Forest EU, said that the role of Forest EU was to ensure that adults who didn’t want to stop smoking were given a voice in Brussels and beyond.
“We intend to arm consumers throughout Europe with information and resources so they can engage with politicians and regulators at national and international level,” he said.
“We acknowledge the health risks but if adults choose to smoke that’s a matter for them and no-one else. Politicians, regulators and NGOs have no right to tell law-abiding citizens how to live their lives. Whether or not they smoke is not a public health issue, it’s a private health issue.
“The European Union has the power to set the agenda on smoking and other lifestyle issues. We hope that program will focus on education not coercion. What we need is a liberal and pragmatic approach to tobacco that puts empathy above dogma and takes into account the views of ordinary citizens.
“Politicians and regulators need to understand and appreciate the pleasure many people get from smoking. This requires politicians and regulators to engage not only with the strident tobacco control lobby but also with adults who enjoy smoking and don’t want to quit.”

March 28, 2017