Health Brief: Targeting loopholes in EU tobacco directives

By Euractiv's Health Hub and Giedre Peseckyte | Euractiv.com

Est. 15min

02-11-2022 (updated: 08-11-2022 )

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The EU is reviewing its regulatory instruments on tobacco, as planned in the EU beating cancer plan. Experts and stakeholders are hoping that the revisions will target the loopholes that exist in directives.

Łukasz Balwicki, a professor at the Medical University of Gdansk, Poland, and a doctor at a smoking cessation clinic, has been involved in the tobacco control field for about 20 years.

“I wish there were bigger changes in Poland,” he said, reflecting on the evolution in tobacco control in his country during those years.

“After those 20 years, I see that we could probably do more in this field,” Balwicki told EURACTIV at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva, highlighting the lack of governmental investment and political will.

“In the Ministry of Health, there’s only one person who is devoted to tobacco control issues,” he said, adding that ”government tries not to touch the subject unless there is a need coming from, for example, the European Commission.”

Tobacco consumption is the single largest avoidable health risk, and the most significant cause of premature death in the EU. It is covered by a patchwork of EU directives: the EU Tobacco Products Directive, the Tobacco Taxation Directive, and several advertising directives targeting tobacco.

With the EU’s beating cancer plan goal to create a tobacco-free generation by 2040 – no more than 5% of the population using tobacco – there is a need to step up. In 2020, the figure was around 18%, according to Eurostat.

To achieve a tobacco-free generation, the EU’s beating cancer plan highlights the need for a review of the Tobacco Products Directive, the Tobacco Taxation Directive, and the legal framework on cross-border purchases of tobacco by private individuals.

The Tobacco Products Directive is currently under a formal evaluation process with public consultation to be completed by the end of the year, a Commission official told EURACTIV.

In the meantime, the Commission’s proposal on the revision of the tobacco taxation directive is scheduled for 7 December 2022. The official added that in 2023, the Commission will put forward an update of the 2009 Council’s smoke-free environments recommendation, tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.

However, experts have highlighted that in order to make true progress, the EU must address loopholes in the regulations.

“You have the minimum standards that you have to implement coming from the institutions and then some countries go beyond and have very strong tobacco control legislation, while some implemented directive as it is,” said Irina Kubinschi, policy and senior legal and policy officer at Smoke-free partnership.

This seems to be the case in Poland. Balwicki said that existing loopholes “serve as an excuse” for some governments not to address tobacco control seriously enough.

“We are so much concentrated on the economy […] that we sometimes leave behind that other maybe less important things like health,” he said.

“Regulations on the EU level help us to not forget about that and keep up with such issues.”

On 19 October 2020, the Commission highlighted several areas for tightening of regulations.

One argument was that minimum tax rates on rules for tobacco have lost their effect, as a large number of member states tax most tobacco products above the minimum. Taxation plays a pivotal role in reducing tobacco consumption, in particular in deterring youth from smoking.

Additionally, the current directive does not fully cover several new types of tobacco products, leading the Commission to highlight the risk of cross-border purchases.

With the revision, the EU executive is considering a number of policy options based on minimum excise duty rates and harmonisation of the taxation of new products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and modern oral products.

Regarding the Commission’s upcoming proposal on the revision of the tobacco taxation directive, Kubinschi said that “we hope for an ambitious proposal that will look at all the new products that are on the market.”

“We want the new products to be defined as tax categories in the new directive because what happens otherwise is that you have some definitions, and then the industry is just creating new products that don’t fit those definitions,” she said.

Kubinschi expressed hopes new products with not much data will be included even at 0% taxation which will put them under the monitoring system of excisable goods and help to collect additional data and introduce changes if needed, while also stressing the importance of convergence of excise duties, and progressive increase of taxes.

By Giedrė Peseckytė

Subscribe to EURACTIV’s Health Brief, where you’ll find the latest roundup of news covering health from across Europe. The Health Brief is brought to you by EURACTIV’s Health Team Giedrė Peseckytė, Clara Bauer-Babef, Amalie Holmgaard Mersh, and Gerardo Fortuna.

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