G/TBT/W/459  
 
8 December 2017  
(17-6748) Page: 1/1 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish  
 
 
EUROPEAN UNION – DRAFT EU LEGISLATION  ON 
TRACEABILITY FOR TOB ACCO PRODUCTS  
STATEMENT BY CUBA TO  THE COMMITTEE ON TEC HNICAL BARRIERS TO T RADE  
8 AND 9 NOVEMBER 201 7 
The following communication, dated 7 December 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Cuba. 
_______________  
1.1.  It came to our attention that on 31 October of this year, the European Commission in 
Brussels submitted a revised draft EU reg ulation on technical standards for the establishment and 
operation of a traceability system for tobacco products.  
1.2.  Members were given until 11 November 2017 to send comments on this legislation through 
their national TBT focal points. We take this opportuni ty to inform you that our national focal point 
will be sending specific comments to the EU focal point regarding this draft regulation.  
1.3.  Cuba understands the objective underlying the proposed legislation, which aims to combat 
the various types of fraudulent  activities by which illicit goods are made available to consumers, 
including practices involving false export declarations. It also understands the desire to guarantee 
the independence of the traceability system and its control by Member States.  
1.4.  However, we are a developing country with a small and vulnerable economy, and we have 
serious concerns regarding the impact that this legislation would have on Cuba's tobacco industry 
if it were to be implemented. Consequently, at this early stage we would like to ask the EU to 
apply Article  12.3 of the TBT Agreement which provides that Members should, in the preparation of 
technical regulations, take account of the special development, financial and trade needs of 
developing countries so as to ensure that they do n ot create unnecessary obstacles to exports 
from developing country Members. Similarly, we hope that in conformity with Article 12.9 of the 
TBT Agreement, due account will be taken of the difficulties that we are creating for the potential 
implementation of  this legislation.  
1.5.  Tobacco is one of Cuba's fundamental exports. The implementation of these provisions would 
require significant changes in the production infrastructure and methods that would be very 
difficult to implement, especially in the case of Cuba n cigars, the bulk of which are handmade 
premium. Their manufacture has its own peculiarities which distinguish them considerably from 
the machine -made product.  
1.6.  The new provisions would introduce production information requirements that do not take 
account  of the specificities of the manual production of this type of product.  
1.7.  The new regulations imposed by the proposed legislation could end up limiting exports of 
these products to the EU.  
1.8.  In view of the obstacles that these new regulations would create for our countries, we would 
ask the EU to bear our concerns in mind, together with the more detailed comments that will 
shortly be transmitted to the authorities in Brussels through Cuba's focal point, with a view to 
amending the proposed legislation.  
1.9.  Our dele gation would be happy to maintain a dialogue with the EU on this matter.  
__________