TEXTS ADOPTED
1. Tobacco control (procedure without debate)
B5-0701/2001
European Parliament resolution on the follow-up to Parliament’s opinion on the European Union’s
position in view of the third round of negotiations for a WHO Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control
The European Parliament,
Udash having regard to its resolution of 18 December 1997 on the Commission communication to the
Council and the European Parliament on the present and proposed Communityrole in combatingtobacco consumption (COM(1996)609 Udash C4-0014/1997)(
1),
Udash having regard to European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/37/EC of 5 June 2001 on the
approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerningthe manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products(
2),
Udash having regard to the Commission proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on the
approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating tothe advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products(
3),
Udash having regard to the intention announced bythe President of the Commission, endorsed byParliament
on 4 July2001, to move towards alternative support for EU farmers currentlysubsidised for growingtobacco,
Udash having regard to the first and second round of negotiations for a WHO Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control,
Udash having regard to Rule 70 of the Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas tobacco is a major health determinant and tobacco-related diseases are responsible each year
for around four million deaths worldwide,
B. whereas this figure is expected to rise to 10 million deaths per year by 2030, with 70% of them
occurring in developing countries,
C. whereas people are beginning to smoke occasionallyor regularlyat an increasinglyy ounger age,
irrespective of gender and customs,
D. having regard to the evidence that there is a correlation between price and consumption of tobacco,
particularlyamong y oung people, and to the need to remove tobacco products from the Retail PriceIndex to avoid Member State reluctance to affect inflation rates,
E. having regard to the sound scientific data concerning the risks associated with passive smoking,F. whereas tobacco consumption is increasing globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries
and among women and young girls,
G. whereas tobacco control measures should therefore be of a horizontal nature and be agreed at inter-
national level, taking as a basis a high level of public health protection,
1. Supports the objective of a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control set bythe World Health
Assemblyin its resolution of 24 May1999;
(1) OJ C 14, 19.1.1998, p. 197.
(2) OJ L 194, 18.7.2001, p. 26.
(3) OJ C 270 E, 25.9.2001, p. 97.13.6.2002 EN C140E/109 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 13 November 2001
2. Welcomes the progress made in the first and second round of negotiations on the Framework Con-
vention;
3. Believes that a substantive legal instrument agreed at international level, as the Framework Conven-
tion is intended to be, constitutes an important means to address tobacco-related problems and, con-
sequently, to promote public health;
4. Broadlyagrees with the guiding principles, the general obligations and the measures proposed for the
Framework Convention, and considers that there is a need to prioritise the measures according to theimpact which theyhave on public health and the environment;
5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support a provision explicitlystating that the
Convention and tobacco regulations generallyshould applyto all tobacco products, including cigarettes,smokeless tobacco, roll-your-own, cigars, kreteks, ‘bidis’, and the like;
6. Considers that the elimination of all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products, including smuggling
and counterfeiting, is an essential component of tobacco control and calls on the Commission and theMember States to push for concrete measures in this field to be included in the proposed Convention;
7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support provisions in Section I.5 of the proposed
Convention for preventing and combating illicit trade in tobacco products, and furthermore, to comeforward with proposals that criminal laws be enacted against counterfeiting where theydo not currentlyexist and that the provisions for the destruction of all contraband and counterfeit cigarettes be extended toalso cover destruction of the equipment and machineryused to produce counterfeit products;
8. Welcomes the proposal that, with a view to combating smuggling, each unit packet or package of
tobacco products should carrythe statement ‘Sales onlyallowed in [the countrywhere the product is to beplaced on the market]’;
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support a prohibition of sales of tobacco pro-
ducts to persons under the age of 18;
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support a provision in the Convention that
would, consistent with the health warnings on packages, require manufacturers to include clear and con-spicuous health warnings in tobacco advertisements;
11. Supports the proposal that standards for the regulation of the contents of tobacco products, includ-
ing standards for testing and measuring, designing, manufacturing and processing such products, be devel-oped and harmonised under the auspices of the World Health Organization;
12. Believes that Communityfinancial support for the implementation of the Convention in the devel-
oping countries, including finding alternative agricultural activities and opening markets for replacementcrops, should be considered in due course;
13. Notes that the EC delegation will have a keyrole to playin the negotiations and believes that, while
taking as a basis the Community‘acquis’, the Communitymust also be open to considering and supportingproposals for tobacco control measures going beyond existing EU legislation;
14. Urges, therefore, the Commission and the Member States to stronglysupport those delegations that
are pushing for the conclusion, within the anticipated time limits, of an effective Convention which pro-vides the appropriate framework for concrete measures to substantiallyreduce tobacco consumption;
15. Calls for the European Parliament member present to be more fullyinformed of the progress of
negotiations bybeing better integrated into the EC delegation, and in particular bybeing able to attend theEU coordination meetings;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States and the secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on TobaccoControl.C140E/110 EN 13.6.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 13 November 2001