WRITTEN QUESTION E-1239/03 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Health warnings on cigarette packs.
Date: 2003-04-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: approximation of laws, consumer information, marketing standard, packaging, public health, smoking, tobacco, visual arts

9.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 242 E/223

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 May 2003)

The Commission has noted Amendment 55 on point 2 of the Commissions Proposal for a Council
Recommendation on the prevention and reduction of risks associated with drug dependence (1) which
recommends a Council Recommendation on the risks associated with addictive prescription drugs such as
benzodiazepines, and best practice treatment of, and support for, patients suffering long term withdrawal
symptoms or permanent impairment. The Commission’s view that it could agree with this amendment has
been communicated to the Council.

The Commission is aware that addiction to legal pharmacological products is a large and complex
problem. The Work Plan of the Community Action in the field of public health for year 2003 (2) states that
preparatory work involving an inventory of existing studies in this field will be undertaken.

(1) COM(2002) 201 final.
(2) OJ C 62, 15.3.2003.

(2003/C 242 E/262)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1239/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Health warnings on cigarette packs

By what date does the Commission expect to be in a position to provide Member States with rules and
internal market guidance for the use of colour photographs or other illustrations on cigarette packs to
explain the health consequences of smoking?

Will the Commission explain what preparatory work has now been completed, what work must still be
undertaken, and why this is necessary given that a photograph of a diseased lung (for example) looks the
same in every Member State?

Does the Commission recognise that the lengthy delay in producing these guidelines will appear to
confirm in the minds of many citizens the very worst impressions of bureaucracy gone mad?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 May 2003)

The Commission expects to adopt a Decision establishing rules for the use of colour photographs or other
illustrations to depict the health consequences of smoking, as required by Article 5.3 of Directive 2001/37/
EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2001 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of
tobacco products (1), by May 2003.

While the above Directive calls upon the Commission to adopt such rules not later than 31 December
2002, it should be noted that the Commission made the following declaration when the Directive was
adopted: ‘The Commission draws the attention of the European Parliament and the Council to the difficulty
it envisages in respecting the deadline imposed in Article 5(3) of this text in which to obtain an opinion
from the Committee established in Article 10 and subsequently to adopt rules on the use of colour
photographs.’

Preparatory work for this Decision involved the consultation of experts and the evaluation of research
carried out in recent years, as well as analysing the experience of countries where the use of colour photos
is already required,
like Canada. The draft Decision is currently being submitted for opinion to the
Committee established by article 10 of Directive 2001/37/EC, and is expected to be ready for adoption by
the Commission in May 2003.

C 242 E/224

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

9.10.2003

The experts consulted, supported by the Regulatory Committee, recommended that the choice of the
photographs to accompany each of the fourteen additional health warnings foreseen in annex I to
Directive 2001/37/EC be made at a European level. This implies establishing a centralised library giving a
choice of photographs for each of the additional health warnings, so that each Member State can choose
the photograph which best suits its cultural realities.

Immediately after the adoption of the Decision, the Commission will therefore launch a call for tender
concerning the production of suitable photographs. These will be subject to large-scale pre-testing with
different target groups across Europe,
in order to take cultural, social and age-related differences into
account.

As a consequence of the implementation of Directive 2001/37/EC, new and larger health warnings on
cigarette packets throughout the Member States have started appearing since the end of 2002, and this
new layout is mandatory without any further derogation as of 30 September 2003. In order to take full
advantage of the impact of this new design on the consumer, it is advisable to introduce additional new
elements, such as colour photographs, only after the new health warnings have been in operation for a
certain length of time.
the inevitable wear-out phenomenon can be delayed, and the
consumer’s attention can be caught over a longer stretch of time. For this reason, the draft Decision
stipulates that, where Member States decide to require the use of colour photographs, the relative
provisions should not enter into force before 1 July 2004.

In this way,

(1) OJ L 194, 18.7.2001.

(2003/C 242 E/263)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1274/03

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 March 2003)

Subject: Conflict of interests at Eurostat

In its answer to my Written Question P-3742/02 (1), the Commission refers to a series of decisions and
documents which apparently justify the participation of Eurostat, represented by its Director-General, in the
establishment and management of Eurocost A.s.b.l., a private company.

That company was involved in serious irregularities (falsification of accounts, double and triple financing
of projects, theft of IT equipment) at a cost of more than EUR 1 million to the Community budget.

Can the Commission forward to me copies of the decisions and documents referred to SEC(94) 389,
SEC(95) 1684 and SEC(98) 1217?

The Commission states that the Director-General of Eurostat was also a member of CESD-Communautaire
and a founder member of CESD-Madrid, CESD-Lisbon and CESD-Rome, remaining a member thereof until
2000.

Can the Commission forward to me copies of the documents on the basis of which the Director-General
applied for authorisation to carry out those activities and/or which gave Commission authorisation for
those activities?

Can the Commission forward to me a list of all the payments which CESD-Communautaire, CESD-Madrid,
CESD-Lisbon and CESD-Rome respectively received from the Community budget?

Can the Commission list all the instances in which contracts were concluded with those associations
without a prior call for tenders and indicate the amounts involved in each one and why calls for tender
were dispensed with?

(1) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 136.