Council Recommendation of 2 December 2002 on the prevention of smoking and on initiatives to improve tobacco control
Date: 2002-12-02
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: advertising, consumer information, marketing, public health, smoking, tobacco

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 2 December 2002

on the prevention of smoking and on initiatives to improve tobacco control

(2003/54/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 152(4), second subparagraph
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Article 152 of the Treaty stipulates that Community
action, which shall complement national policies, shall
be directed towards improving public health, preventing
human illness and diseases, and obviating sources of
danger to human health.

The resolution of
the Council and the Ministers for
Health of the Member States, meeting within the Council
of 18 July 1989 on banning smoking in places open to
the public (2), provided guidelines to the Member States
for the protection of non-smokers from environmental
tobacco smoke. Following a Report from the Commis-
sion on the response from the Member States to this
initiative (3), the present recommendation reinforces such
protection and identifies particularly vulnerable groups.

The Council Resolution of 26 November 1996 on the
reduction of smoking in the European Community (4)
recognised the need for the development of an effective
strategy on combating tobacco consumption, which
includes certain of the elements contained in this recom-
mendation.

The Council Conclusions of 18 November 1999 on
combating tobacco consumption (5) underlined the
strategy, which
necessity for developing an overall

(1) Proposal of 18 June 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(2) OJ C 189, 26.7.1989, p. 1.
(3) COM(96) 573 final.
(4) OJ C 374, 11.12.1996, p. 4.
(5) OJ C 86, 24.3.2000, p. 4.

includes some of the measures outlined in the present
recommendation for the protection of minors (rules for
selling conditions, sales through electronic means and
vending machines).

The Council Resolution of 29 June 2000 on action on
health determinants (6) took note of the results of the
the European Conference on health
debates held at
determinants in the European Union held at Evora on
15 and 16 March 2000, which placed particular
emphasis, inter alia, on tobacco and which recommended
a series of practical and targeted steps to address the
challenges in these areas.

The recommended actions are necessary against a back-
ground of 500 000 smoking related deaths annually in
the European Community and a worrying increase in
the number of children and adolescents who take up
smoking. Smoking is damaging human health, as
smokers become addicted to nicotine and suffer fatal
and disabling diseases such as cancers of the lung and
other organs, ischaemic heart disease and other circula-
tory diseases, and respiratory diseases such as emphy-
sema.

Smoking prevention and tobacco control are already
priority objectives
in the public health policies of
Member States and the European Community. Neverthe-
less, smoking remains the biggest form of preventable
death in the European Union, and progress in reducing
tobacco consumption and smoking incidence is still
disappointing. Moreover, the advertising, marketing, and
promotion strategies used by the tobacco industry foster

(5)

(6)

(7)

(6) OJ C 218, 31.7.2000, p. 8.

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thereby increasing the already
tobacco consumption,
high mortality and morbidity caused by the use of
tobacco products. Some of these strategies appear to be
targeting young people in their educational years,
in
order to replace the large number of smokers who die
annually. It is in fact established that 60 % of smokers
start the habit before 13 years of age, and 90 % before
18.

Through the Europe Against Cancer programme (1), the
European Community has set as one of its objectives a
contribution to the improvement of the health of its citi-
zens by reducing the number of cases of cancer and
other diseases related to smoking.

Directive 2001/37/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 5 June 2001 on the manufacture, presen-
tation and sale of tobacco products (2) and the proposal
for a Directive on advertising and sponsorship of
tobacco products (3) deal with tobacco control
in the
context of
the
internal market and the abolition of obstacles to its
smooth operation, while taking as a basis a high level of
public health protection.

the completion and consolidation of

(8)

(9)

(10)

Certain measures that should be part of a comprehensive
tobacco control policy, such as a prohibition of billboard
and poster advertising, or of advertising in cinemas,
cannot presently be subject to harmonisation under the
Community internal market rules in a separate tobacco
measure.

(11) All the above facts highlight the need for a comprehen-
sive approach towards tobacco control, with a view to
reducing the incidence of smoking-induced diseases in
the Community.

(12)

In the context of a comprehensive tobacco control
policy, it is essential to adopt measures aimed particu-
larly at reducing demand for tobacco products by chil-
dren and adolescents. Such measures may include
actions aimed at reducing the supply of tobacco to chil-
dren and adolescents, and at prohibiting certain kinds of
advertising, marketing and promotion strategies
for
tobacco products, taking into account that such strate-
gies impact indiscriminately on young people and other
age groups.

(13)

sales and distribution of

Certain forms of
tobacco
products facilitate the access by children and adolescents
to these products, and should therefore be regulated by
Member States.

(14) Given that vending machines are visible to consumers
and non-consumers alike, they should not carry adver-
tising other than what is strictly necessary for indicating
the products sold.

(1) OJ L 95, 16.4.1996, p. 9.
(2) OJ L 194, 18.7.2001, p. 26.
(3) OJ C 270, 25.9.2001, p. 97.

(15)

(16)

that

tobacco products and provides

Two other important measures at European Community
level address the advertising and the sponsorship of
tobacco products. The 1989 Television Without Fron-
tiers Directive (4) bans all forms of television advertising
for
television
programmes may not be sponsored by natural or legal
persons whose principal activity is the manufacture or
sale of tobacco products. The current proposal for a
Directive on advertising and sponsorship of
tobacco
products foresees a ban of tobacco advertising in the
press and in other printed publications, in the radio and
through information society services. This proposal also
foresees a ban on sponsorship by tobacco companies of
radio programmes, and of events involving or taking
place in several Member States or otherwise having
cross-border effects.

This recommendation addresses other types of adver-
tising, marketing and promotion practices used by the
industry to promote tobacco consumption, which can
indiscriminately reach children and adolescents. Such
practices include the use of tobacco brand names on
non-tobacco products or services (brand-stretching) and/
or clothes (merchandising), the use of promotional items
(such as ordinary objects like ashtrays, lighters, parasols
and other similar objects) and of tobacco samples, the
use and communication of sales promotion (such as a
discount, a free gift, a premium or an opportunity to
participate in a promotional contest or game), the use of
billboards, posters and other indoor or outdoor adver-
tising techniques
advertising on tobacco
vending machines), the use of tobacco advertising in
cinemas, as well as any other forms of advertising, spon-
sorship or practices directly or indirectly addressed to
promote tobacco products. In fact, Member States autho-
rities should adopt appropriate legislative and/or admin-
istrative measures specifically to prohibit, in accordance
with national constitutions or constitutional principles,
such activities, which constitute means of promoting
tobacco products while circumventing bans on direct
tobacco advertising already in force for certain media.

(such as

(17)

The World Health Organisation and the World Bank
recommend that countries prohibit all forms of tobacco
advertising and promotion. In cases where only certain
forms of direct tobacco advertising are prohibited, the
tobacco industry frequently shifts its advertising expendi-
ture to other marketing, sponsorship and promotion
strategies, using creative and indirect ways to promote
tobacco products, especially with young people. In this
way, the effect of partial advertising bans on tobacco
consumption may be limited. Moreover, the World Bank
cigarette
increases
advertising
has
consumption and that
legislation banning advertising
would reduce consumption provided that it is compre-
hensive, covering all media and uses of brand names and

concluded that

(4) OJ L 298, 17.10.1989, p. 23.

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logos. Such a reduction in cigarette consumption would
have immediate short-term and long-term benefits for
public health. Information on the global expenditure of
the tobacco industry on the promotion of
tobacco
products is therefore an important prerequisite for moni-
toring the effectiveness of tobacco control policies from
a public health perspective. Such information makes it
possible to determine whether restrictions imposed are
being circumvented, particularly by the diversion of
budgets towards new or unrestricted forms of promo-
tion. Regular declaration of such expenditure should be
required of the tobacco industry.

(d) restricting tobacco distance sales for general retail, such
as sales via the Internet, to adults by using adequate
technical means,

(e) prohibiting the sale of sweets and toys intended for chil-
dren and manufactured with the clear intention that the
product and/or packaging would resemble in appearance
a type of tobacco product,

(f) prohibiting the sale of cigarettes individually or

in

packets of fewer than 19 cigarettes;

(18) Given the health risks associated with passive smoking,
Member States should aim to protect smokers and non-
smokers from environmental tobacco smoke.

2. adopt appropriate legislative and/or administrative measures
to prohibit,
in accordance with national constitutions or
constitutional principles, the following forms of advertising
and promotion:

(19) Member States should continue developing strategies
and measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking, such
as
to
strengthening health education programmes
improve understanding of the risks of smoking as well
as other prevention programmes to discourage smoking.

(20)

The World Health Organisation's Framework Convention
on Tobacco Control, which is currently being negotiated,
addresses many of the issues dealt with in the present
recommendation. It is therefore important to ensure that
the measures contained in this recommendation are
consistent with the draft elements of the FCTC presently
under discussion,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THAT MEMBER STATES:

1. adopt appropriate legislative and/or administrative measures
in accordance with national practices and conditions to
prevent tobacco sales to children and adolescents, including,
inter alia:

(a) requiring vendors of tobacco products to establish that
tobacco purchasers have reached the age for purchase of
such products required in national law, where such an
age limit exists,

(b) removing tobacco products from self-service displays in

retail outlets,

(c) restricting the access to tobacco vending machines to
locations accessible to persons over the age set
for
purchase of tobacco products in national
law, where
such an age limit exists, or otherwise regulating the
access to the products sold through such machines in
an equally effective way,

(a) the use of

tobacco brand names on non-tobacco

products or services,

(b) the use of promotional items (ashtrays, lighters, parasols,

etc.) and tobacco samples,

(c) the use and communication of sales promotion, such as
a discount, a free gift, a premium or an opportunity to
participate in a promotional contest or game,

(d) the use of billboards, posters and other indoor or
outdoor advertising techniques (such as advertising on
tobacco vending machines),

(e) the use of advertising in cinemas, and

(f) any other forms of advertising, sponsorship or practices
directly or indirectly addressed to promote tobacco
products;

3. adopt appropriate measures, by introducing legislation or by
other methods in accordance with national practices and
conditions, in order to require manufacturers, importers and
large-scale traders in tobacco products and in products and
services bearing the same trademark as tobacco products to
provide Member States with information concerning the
expenditure they incur on advertising, marketing, sponsor-
ship and promotion campaigns not prohibited under
national or Community legislation;

4.

implement
legislation and/or other effective measures in
accordance with national practices and conditions at the
appropriate governmental or non-governmental
level that
provide protection from exposure to environmental tobacco
smoke in indoor workplaces, enclosed public places, and
public transport. Priority consideration should be given to,
inter alia, educational establishments, health care facilities
and places providing services to children;

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5. continue developing strategies and measures to reduce the
prevalence of smoking, such as strengthening overall health
education, particularly in schools, and general programmes
to discourage the initial use of tobacco products and to
overcome tobacco addiction;

6. make full use of young people's contributions to youth
health-related policies and actions, especially in the field of
information, and encourage specific activities which are
implemented and evaluated by young
initiated, planned,
people;

7. adopt and implement appropriate price measures on
tobacco products so as to discourage tobacco consumption;

8.

implement all necessary and appropriate procedures to
verify compliance with the measures set out in this recom-
mendation;

9.

inform the Commission every two years of action taken in
response to this recommendation,

HEREBY INVITES THE COMMISSION:

1. to monitor and assess the developments and the measures
undertaken in the Member States and at Community level;

2. to report on the implementation of the proposed measures,
on the basis of the information provided by Member States,
not later than one year after receipt of Member States' infor-
mation submitted in accordance with this recommendation;

3. to consider the extent to which the measures set out in this
recommendation are working effectively, and to consider
the need for further action, particularly if internal market
disparities are identified in the areas covered by this recom-
mendation.

Done at Brussels, 2 December 2002.

For the Council

The President

B. BENDTSEN