• believes that revision of the directive is necessary and should therefore be carried out without further delay to protect the health of the European public, particularly its youngest members, from the risks of smoking;
• urges the Commission and the Member States to adopt a balanced directive that leads to a better heath protection for consumers whilst taking into account the production and economic value of tobacco crop;
• considers that the Members States should ban the free distribution of tobacco products (online or in public areas) given its strong potential to recruit new (and young) smokers;
• calls on the European Commission together with Member States to look into a scheme that would compensate for the loss of jobs in the tobacco sector and packaging industry;
• argues that the Member States should be able to ban the cross-border sales of tobacco products to better protect their young citizens from harm;
• is convinced that regular public education and awareness-raising campaigns should be promoted, providing advice in primary and secondary schools on harmfulness of tobacco and its detrimental effects on health and wellbeing;
• calls on the Commission and the Member States to envisage support for the regions where tobacco is currently grown or manufactured, to enable them to replace tobacco with more sustainable crops;
• draws attention to the fact that non-standard packs are currently at the market and their removal will adversely affect regions where these are produced.
On 18 December 2013, the Permanent Representatives Committee agreed on a compromise text for the tobacco products directive, thus endorsing the proposal presented at a trilogue meeting between the Lithuanian presidency and representatives of the European Parliament and of the Commission on 16 December.
The final text is to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. The vote in the Council will take place after the legal-linguistic revision of the text has been finalised. The Parliament has not set the date for its vote yet.
The provisional analysis of the compromise, based on the Council and EC press releases and commentary by the EP Rapporteur, Linda McAvan, brings forward a number of similarities between the CoR opinion and the text:
a) Characterising flavours
The co-legislators agree on a ban on the placing on the market of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco with characterising flavours such as fruit flavours, menthol or vanilla. The CoR in its reason presented to AM 3 argues that indeed only cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco should be covered by such a ban, excluding other forms of tobacco.
b) Addictiveness
The compromise text introduces an additional ban on tobacco products containing additives in quantities that increase in a significant or measurable manner the toxic or addictive effect, or the carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic properties. The CoR AM 10 to article 6.4 of the draft directive introduces a new sub-point, banning "additives that increase the addictiveness of nicotine".
c) Combined picture and text health warnings
Against the wishes of the European Commission, the EP and the Council settled on 65 % of the front and the back of packages of tobacco products for smoking. This was suggested by the CoR opinion's amendment 12 to article 9.1(c).
d) Misleading labelling
The co-legislators maintain the Commission's proposal to ban misleading labelling such as "natural" or "organic". The CoR in its point 10 supports "measures to prevent consumers being misled by things (…) which might persuade them that certain tobacco products had healthy or therapeutic effects."
e) Cross-border distance sales of tobacco products
The compromise specifies that the Member States may decide to ban such sales. This again could have been inspired by the CoR opinion that inserts this possibility into the recital 30 in its amendment
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- believes that revision of the directive is necessary and should therefore be carried out without further delay to protect the health of the European public, particularly its youngest members, from the risks of smoking;
- urges the Commission and the Member States to adopt a balanced directive that leads to a better heath protection for consumers whilst taking into account the production and economic value of tobacco crop;
- considers that the Members States should ban the free distribution of tobacco products (online or in public areas) given its strong potential to recruit new (and young) smokers;
- calls on the European Commission together with Member States to look into a scheme that would compensate for the loss of jobs in the tobacco sector and packaging industry;
- argues that the Member States should be able to ban the cross-border sales of tobacco products to better protect their young citizens from harm;
- is convinced that regular public education and awareness-raising campaigns should be promoted, providing advice in primary and secondary schools on harmfulness of tobacco and its detrimental effects on health and wellbeing;
- calls on the Commission and the Member States to envisage support for the regions where tobacco is currently grown or manufactured, to enable them to replace tobacco with more sustainable crops;
- draws attention to the fact that non-standard packs are currently at the market and their removal will adversely affect regions where these are produced.