EU Commission Accused of Failing to Regulate Relations with Tobacco

Source from:  TheParliament.com 01/30/2013

The commission has come under fresh attack over the so-called 'Dalligate' scandal.

The executive has already been accused of forcing former EU health commissioner John Dalli out of office over his alleged involvement in a bid to alter draft legislation in return for cash.

Dalli is accused of being aware of an attempt by a business associate to water down the tobacco products directive, a claims the Maltese official strenuously denies.

The commission has now been attacked for its "failure" to "properly implement" an international convention designed to protect lawmaking from the "vested interests" of the tobacco industry.

Transparency groups like Alter-EU say the "scandal" surrounding the Dalli case "highlights the importance of effectively regulating relations between EU institutions and the tobacco sector".

Member states and the EU have ratified Article 5.3 f the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC) which states that "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry".

Alter-EU is one of several groups which have written to commission president José Manuel Barroso complaining about the executive's "failure" to implement the FCTC.

The letter, dated 17 January, says, "It has recently come to our attention that over the past months commission officials have had meetings with tobacco industry lobbyists that were not disclosed online, despite the obligation for transparency."

It goes on, "This became clear from the commission's response to questions from MEPs."

It claims that some of the alleged meetings have been with officials from the commission's consumer and health department "but no less problematic are undisclosed meetings" involving officials from the commission secretariat general and members of Barroso's own cabinet.

The letter, also signed by the smoke-free partnership and corporate accountability international, said that Barroso, the secretariat general and other commission departments "currently fail to provide transparency around meetings with tobacco industry lobbyists and those working to further the tobacco industry's interests".

It concludes that current EU rules are "not sufficient to ensure transparency, objectivity and probity when interacting with tobacco industry interests".

The groups said that action is needed as "many parts of the WHO convention appear not to be implemented".

Elsewhere, the Maltese authorities are thought to be close to winding up their investigation into the case with a source saying that charges are likely to "follow soon" against Dalli's business associate.

Meanwhile, tobacconists and newsagents have voiced their opposition to the draft tobacco products directive, claiming it will increase counterfeiting.

The directive, announced in December by new EU health commissioner Tonio Borg, requires 75 per cent of cigarette packets to be covered - front and back - with health warnings.

The current requirement for health warnings on packets is 30 per cent minimum coverage on one side and 40 per cent on the other. The commission also says packets must be big enough to ensure full visibility for the health warnings, so the recommendation is at least 20 cigarettes per pack.

However, an alliance of groups, including smoke-free partnership, say the new law will make cigarettes "easier and cheaper to counterfeit".

Their spokesman, Luk Joossens, an international tobacco control expert, said, "The reality is that at present all packs are easy to counterfeit and that plain packaging will not make any difference."

"Experience has proven that illicit trade of cigarettes is prompted by supply and price rather than by the packaging of the product." Enditem