. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/380 
6 May 2011  
 (11-2359) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN UNION
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :   
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
Website:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [  ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Smoking tobacco 
products 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Directive amending Annex I to Directive 2001/ 37/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of 
the Member States concerning the manufacture,  presentation and sale of tobacco products 
(5 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Directive updates and adapts to scientific 
progress the current 14 text warnings intr oduced by the Tobacco Products Directive 
2011/37/EC, which have been mandatory on all packages of smoking tobacco since September 2003 and on packages of other t obacco products since September 2004.  The 
majority of revised warnings re word and strengthen current texts  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The 
overall objective of the measure is to ensure a high level of health protection by increasing 
consumes' knowledge of the health risks of t obacco use, encouraging their motivation to 
stop or to reduce smoking and preventing youn g people from taking up smoking. Evidence 
suggests that the impact of health warnings te nds to decrease over time as the novelty effect 
wears off.  In addition, new scientific findings on the health effects of tobacco use and the 
knowledge on the principles of effective tob acco labelling have emerged since the adoption 
of the Directive.  G/TBT/N/EEC/380 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   The guidelines on tobacco packaging and labelling adopted by the 
Third Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 
November 2008 recommend that legal measures for packaging and labelling of tobacco 
products should be reviewed periodically and updated as new evidence emerges and as 
specific health warnings and messages wear out.  Website:  
http://www.who.int/entity/fctc/guidelines/article_11.pdf
 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    End of 2011 
20 days from publication in the Official Journal of the EU (about a month after adoption approx.).  Member States have to transpose the Directive at the latest 2 years after entry into force. 
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification. 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or addre ss, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission, 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point, Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
The text is available on the EU-TBT Website:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  and can 
also be downloaded from: 
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2011/tbt/EEC/11_1366_00_e.pdf