EU: Health Council TPD Would Delay Menthol Ban

Source from:  Tobacco Journal  06/27/2013

The proposal to revise the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) backed by European Union health ministers provides for a three-year delay before banning menthol cigarettes, according to a draft copy.
 
Delay would allow menthol smokers to find alternatives and reduce the risk of illicit trade, according to the document. It provides for a three-year delay of the ban on characterising flavours in cigarettes and rolling tobacco if a product belongs to a sector popular enough to account for 3 per cent or more of the EU market. The EU menthol cigarette segment in 2011 was estimated at 4.5 per cent of the market, according to tobacco industry data cited in a recent study by the Roland Berger consulting agency.

Ministers said EU member states should be allowed to prohibit cross-border sales of tobacco products. "Cross-border distance sales of tobacco can facilitate access to tobacco products that do not comply with the rules set out in this Directive", the draft states. "There is also the increased risk of access to tobacco products by young people. Consequently, there is a risk that tobacco control legislation will be undermined."

Last December the EU Commission began the process to revise the TPD with a proposal that did not go as far as health ministers on regulating cross-border sales. Ministers meeting last week in Luxembourg used the Commission document as the base for their proposal. The European Parliament also is working on TPD. Reconciliation into one Directive is expected to begin in the latter half of this year.

Some of what ministers agreed to was made public after the Health Council meeting. Ministers agreed on increasing cigarette pack warnings to 65 per cent instead of the 75 per cent proposed by the Commission. They agreed with the Commission that e-cigarettes must be regulated as pharmaceuticals, although the draft shows ministers reduced the allowable nicotine content for non-pharma e-products to 1 mg per unit or 2 mg per ml; half that proposed by the Commission.

Ministers said the Commission should submit a progress report on TPD implementation every five years. The Commission proposed one submission after five years. Opting to strike the proposed ban on slims from the Commission version, ministers said the progress reports must include assessments of the slims market, defined as cigarettes with diameters less than 7.5 mm. Enditem