Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Directive 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"
Date: 2000-04-12
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: approximation of laws, marketing, public health, single market, tobacco industry

8.8.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 226/5

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Directive 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’

(2000/C 226/02)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Directive 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 (presented by the European Commission —
COM(1999) 594 final — 1999/0244 COD);

having regard to the decision taken by the Council on 15 February 2000, under the first paragraph of
Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Committee of the Regions
on the matter;

having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 2 June 1999 to direct Commission 5 for Social
Policy, Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism to draw up the relevant opinion;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 5 on 6 March 2000 (CdR 32/2000 rev. 1)
(rapporteur: Mr Sodano — I/NI);

whereas Article 95(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community states that ‘the Council shall ...
adopt the measures for the approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative
action in Member States which have as their object the establishment and functioning of the internal
market’;

whereas Article 95(3) of the Treaty states that ‘the Commission, in its proposals (...) concerning health,
safety, environmental protection and consumer protection, will take as a base a high level of protection,
taking account in particular of any new developments based on scientific facts’,

adopted the following opinion at its 33rd plenary session held on 12 and 13 April 2000 (meeting of
12 April).

The Committee of the Regions:

1. Welcomes the proposal, which is prompted by the agreed
need to approximate the laws, regulations and administrat-
the Member States concerning the
ive provisions of
manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, in
order to eliminate differences which could create barriers
to trade and impede the operation of the single market.

2. Notes that, taking as the base a high level of protection of
public health, the proposal seeks to reduce levels of tar,
nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes, with a view
to reducing the harmful effects of smoking tobacco.

3. Stresses that the objective is a significant one, and the
instruments for achieving it must be carefully weighed up
in order to ensure that they are as effective as possible in
securing the anticipated results.

4. Considers it important to alert the Commission to the need
to also consider other more important means of protecting
public health (in relation to smoking and the protection of

non-smokers, e.g. by regulating smoking in public places
and in the workplace), while giving the proposed directive
the primary role of removing existing differences and
regulating the operation of the single market.

5. Considers that in any case, when assessing the instruments
to be adopted, one should also look at their impact
on tobacco production, and particularly their possible
economic impact in those Member States where tobacco
provides one of the main sources of income (cf. the
guidelines already issued by the European Commission (1));
also considers that the existing situation whereby the EU
at the same time supports the fight against smoking as
well as the growing of tobacco must come to an end as
soon as possible; believes therefore that the EU must
maximise its efforts to assist tobacco-growers to shift to
other crops or other activities.

(1) While acknowledging a perceived contradiction between Com-
munity policy to reduce tobacco consumption and support
for raw tobacco production, the Commission points out that
discontinuing aid to tobacco growers would have grave impli-
cations for around 200 000 jobs in growing and processing
(COM(96) 554 final).

C 226/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

8.8.2000

6. Would also point out that the proposed directive is more
than just a consolidated version of the existing directives.
It introduces new provisions whose complexity requires
further careful consideration.

7. Welcomes the intention to evaluate the yield of other
noxious substances (chemical additives) in tobacco prod-
ucts. The aim here is twofold:

a)

to achieve a high level of protection of public health;

b)

to provide more extensive and more uniform infor-
mation in the Member States, facilitating the removal
of barriers to the smooth operation of the single
market.

8. Proposes that, as regards b) in particular, a common list of
additives be drawn up, together with a single method of
analysis for use throughout the EU. This should ensure
that there are no discrepancies between Member States’
provisions, given that the main aim of the proposal is to
approximate such provisions.

the proposed Article 6, dealing with
9. Considers that
labelling,
is unsatisfactory. The Committee has doubts
about the effectiveness of this provision, given the tone of
the required warnings (‘smoking kills’; ‘smoking can kill’)
and the psychological
impact of their form (size and
colours).

10. Proposes with a view to providing accurate, standardised
information about the constituents of the product — that
the portion of the packet surface reserved for information

Brussels, 12 April 2000.

purposes be adjusted to the type of information concerned.
The information provided should also be more extensive
than is currently the case. As regards the colour require-
ments, it might be sufficient to require that contrasting
colours be used so that their content stands out.

11. Agrees with the Commission that terms such as low-tar,
light, ultra light and mild are misleading, and wrongly
suggest that one product is less harmful than others.

12. Thinks, however,

that

it would be useful

to provide
additional labelling to provide direct information on the
relative content of the product. A standard EU classification
system could be devised, using different colours or conven-
tional terms to denote the varying amounts of the substanc-
es present.

13. Calls, however, for effective measures to stave off the
worsening poverty which will face tobacco-growing areas.
Significant funding and other measures are needed in order
to encourage a switch to alternative crops over the medium
to long term, in the realisation that in the short term, any
alternative crop is not attractive to growers. Similarly, ways
should be considered for encouraging tobacco processing
companies to switch to other products.

14. Considers that, given the importance of employment and

public health issues, the two must go hand in hand.

15. Notes with regret that the Commission has not included
the COR amongst the institutions it intends to report to;
asks that this omission be corrected in the final text of the
directive.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT