CELEX: 51990PC0538
Language: en
Date: 1991-01-16
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE AMENDING DIRECTIVE 89/622/EEC ON THE APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS, REGULATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS OF THE MEMBER STATES CONCERNING THE LABELLING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS

5. 2. 91                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                       No C 29/5
                       ORIGINAL PROPOSAL                                                         AMENDED PROPOSAL
                                                 A r t i c l e s 5 to 16 u n c h a n g e d
                                                          Annex I unchanged
                                       A n n e x I I , p o i n t s 1, 2 a n d 2.1 u n c h a n g e d
                           Point 2.2                                                                Point 2.2
2.2. mechanical aspects with a bearing on road safety; in                 2.2. mechanical aspects with a bearing on road safety; in
      particular they must be sufficiently familiar with,                      particular they must be sufficiently familiar with the
      and be able to put right, the most common faults in                      most common faults in the steering system, tyres,
      the steering system, tyres, lights and direction indi-                   lights and direction indicators, reflectors, rear-view
      cators, reflectors, rear-view mirrors, windscreen                        mirrors, windscreen washers and wipers, the exhaust
      washers and wipers, the exhaust system and                               system and seatbelts;
      seatbelts;
                                                P o i n t s 2.3 to 2.14 u n c h a n g e d
                                                   P o i n t s 3 to 13 u n c h a n g e d
                                                       Annex III u n c h a n g e d
               Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 89/622/EEC on the approximation of the
               laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the labelling of
                                                               tobacco products
                                                 COM(90) 538 final — SYN 314
                                     (Submitted by the Commission on 16 November 1990)
                                                                 (91/C 29/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                  Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                          Social Committee,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                     Whereas there are differences between the laws, regu-
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a                        lations and administrative provisions of the Member
thereof,                                                                  States on the labelling of tobacco products; whereas
                                                                          these differences are likely to constitute barriers to trade
                                                                          and to impede the establishment and operation of the
                                                                          internal market;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                          Whereas these possible barriers should be eliminated;
                                                                          whereas, to that end, the marketing and free movement
                                                                          of tobacco products should be made subject to common
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                              rules concerning labelling;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 29/6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   5.2.91
Whereas such common rules must take due account of               Whereas scientific experts are of the opinion that the
public health protection, and of the protection of young         addiction caused by tobacco consumption constitutes a
persons in particular, taking as a base a high level of          danger meriting a specific warning on every tobacco
protection, according to Article 100a (3) of the Treaty;         product;
                                                                 Whereas, moreover, new smokeless tobacco products —
Whereas the Council and the representatives of the
                                                                 moist snuff — designed for oral use, which have
Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
                                                                 appeared recently on the market in certain Member
Council, in their resolution of 7 July 1986 on a
                                                                 States, exercise a particular attraction for young persons;
programme of action of the European Communities
                                                                 whereas the Member States most exposed to this
against cancer ('), set for this programme the objective of
                                                                 problem have already placed total bans on these new
contributing to an improvement of the health and quality
                                                                 tobacco products or are about to do so;
of life of citizens within the Community by reducing the
number of cancers; whereas they have for this purpose
identified a fight against the use of tobacco products as        Whereas there are differences between the laws, regu-
their prime objective;                                           lations and administrative provisions of the Member
                                                                 States in respect of oral moist snuff tobaccos; whereas
                                                                 these products therefore need to be made subject to
Whereas, for the purposes of providing objective infor-          common rules;
mation on the risks entailed in tobacco consumption,
Council Directive 89/622/EEC (2) established a general           Whereas there is a real risk that oral moist snuff
warning to be carried on the unit packaging of all               tobaccos could be used, particularly by young persons, as
tobacco products, together with additional warnings              substitutes for smoking tobacco products, causing
exclusively for cigarettes;                                      nicotine addiction, if restrictive measures are not taken
                                                                 in time;
Whereas the Commission, at the request of the Council,
undertook to propose an amendment to Directive                   Whereas, in accordance with the conclusions of the
89/622/EEC so as to establish additional warnings to be          studies conducted by the International Agency for
carried on the unit packaging of tobacco products other          Research on Cancer, oral moist snuff tobaccos contain
than cigarettes;                                                 particularly large quantities of carcinogenic substances;
                                                                 whereas these new products cause cancer of the mouth
                                                                 in particular;
Whereas scientific experts are of the opinion that all
tobacco products carry health risks;
                                                                 Whereas, the sales bans for moist oral snuff already
                                                                 adopted by two Member States have a direct impact on
Whereas, in relation to their effects on health and for the      the establishment and operation of the internal market,
purposes of their labelling, a distinction needs to be           hence the necessity to approximate the laws of Member
made between smoking tobacco products and smokeless              States in this subject taking as a base a high level of
tobacco products;                                                protection, the only appropriate measure being a total
                                                                 ban,
Whereas rolling tobaccos carry the same health risks as
cigarettes and it is therefore appropriate that the specific     HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
warnings selected for cigarettes should also apply to
rolling tobaccos;
                                                                                             Article 1
Whereas other smoking tobacco products carry similar             Directive 89/622/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
health risks to those carried by cigarettes, but there are
                                                                 1. Article 2 is amended as follows:
still reservations concerning their contribution to heart
disease; whereas these products should therefore be
                                                                     (a) point 1 is replaced by the following:
required to carry the specific warnings selected for ciga-
rettes and rolling tobacco, with the exception of the                    ' 1 . "tobacco products" means products for the
warning concerning heart disease;                                              purpose of smoking, sniffing, sucking or
                                                                               chewing, with the exception of oral moist
                                                                               snuff tobaccos, inasmuch as they are, even
Whereas it has been proved that smokeless tobacco
                                                                               partly, made of tobacco;'
products can provoke cancer and that, consequently,
they must be subject to a specific warning on tobacco                (b) the following point 4 is added:
products;
                                                                         '4. "oral moist snuff tobaccos" means all products
                                                                               made wholly or partly of moistened tobaccos,
                                                                               in fine-cut, ground or particulate form or in
O OJ No C 184, 23. 7. 1986, p. 19.                                             any combination of these forms, which are for
O OJ No L 359, 8. 12. 1989, p. 1.                                              oral use other than smoking;'
 ---pagebreak--- 5.2.91                                    Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 29/7
2. Article 4 is amended as follows:                                  4. the following Article 8a is inserted:
    (a) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
                                                                        'Article 8 a
        '2.    Apart from the general warning referred to
        in paragraph 1, tobacco product packaging shall                 Member States shall prohibit the release on the
        carry specific warnings as follows:                             market of moist snuff tobacco products for oral use.'
        (a) with regard to cigarette packets and rolling
             tobacco, the other large surface of the packet          5. the Annex is amended as set out in the Annex to this
             shall carry specific warnings. To this end,                Directive.
             each Member State shall draw up a list of
             warnings taken exclusively from those listed
             in the Annex;                                                                    Article 2
         (b) the unit packets of cigars, cigarillos, pipe            1.   The prohibition of moist snuff tobacco products
             tobacco or other smoking tobacco products              shall enter into force before 1 July 1992.
             with the exception of cigarettes and rolling
             tobacco shall carry, in addition to the general
             warning provided for in paragraph 1, a                 2.    For the other amendments made by this Directive
             specific warning. To this end, each Member             to Directive 89/622/EEC, Member States shall take the
             State shall draw up a list of warnings taken           necessary steps to comply before 1 July 1992. They shall
             exclusively from those listed in the Annex,            immediately inform the Commission thereof and shall
             with the exception of warning No 2 in part A           send to it the provisions they have adopted.
             of the Annex;
        (c) unit packets of     smokeless tobacco products          When Member States adopt these provisions, they shall
             shall carry, in      addition to the warning           contain a reference to this Directive or shall be ac-
             provided for in    paragraph 1, the following          companied by such reference at the time of their official
             specific warning:  "Can cause cancer".                 publication. The procedure for such reference shall be
                                                                    adopted by Member States.
             The specific warnings provided for in this
             paragraph shall be printed or irremovably
             affixed on the unit packets in the official            3.    Member States shall bring into force the provisions
             language or languages of the country of final          referred to in paragraph 2 before 31 December 1992.
             marketing, in such a way as to guarantee, in           Nevertheless, products existing at that date which do not
             the cases referred to in points (a) and (b), the       comply with Article 1 (2) (a) may still be marketed until
             appearance in rotation of each warning on an           31 December 1993.
             equal quantity of unit packets, with a
             tolerance of 5 % ' ;
                                                                                              Article 3
   (b) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:
        '5.    Without prejudice to paragraph 4, the                1.    The Commission shall publish the national lists of
        general warning provided for in paragraph 1 and             warnings provided for in Article 4 (2), point (a) for
        the specific warning provided for in paragraph 2            rolling tobaccos and point (b) for other smoking
        shall be printed in, or irremovably affixed to, a           tobaccos in the Official Journal of the European
        conspicuous place on a contrasting background               Communities.
        and in such a way as to be easily visible, clearly
        legible and indelible. The warnings shall not in
                                                                    2.    Member States which, after 31 December 1992,
        any way be hidden, obscured or interrupted by
                                                                    modify their lists of warnings as provided for in Article 4
        other written or pictorial matter.';
                                                                    (2) (a) and (b) shall notify this modification 18 months
                                                                    before its application to the Commission, which shall
3. Article 5 is replaced by the following:                          publish it in the Official Journal of the European
   'Article 5                                                        Communities.
   The Commission shall adopt the measurement and
   verification methods referred to in Article 3 (1) and                                      Article 4
   (2) in accordance with the procedure provided for in
   Articles 6 and 7.';                                              This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 29/8                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                      5. 2. 91
                                                               ANNEX
            1. The title of the Annex to the Directive shall be worded as follows:
                    'List of health warnings referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 4 (2)'.
            2. In part B of the Annex, the following new warning, No 15, shall be added after warning No 14:
                    '15. Smoking causes addiction.'
            Proposal for a Council Decision for the European system for observing the inland goods
                                                         transport markets
                                                         COM(90) 652 final
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 20 January 1991)
                                                            (91/C 29/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                No 4059/89 (*) and the crisis mechanism proposed for
                                                                        road transport between Member States provided for in
                                                                        Council Regulation (EEC) No 000 (2);
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 75                        Whereas a market observation system is required to
thereof,                                                                monitor the impact of the scrapping scheme in the inland
                                                                        waterway sector provided for in Council Regulation
                                                                        (EEC) No 1101/89 ( 3 );
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                        Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 4058/89 (4)
Having regard      to   the    opinion    of   the   European           provides for the introduction of a permanent market
Parliament,                                                             observation system for goods transport;
                                                                        Whereas, it must be possible to conduct sample surveys
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                        of the market, or of particular sectors of the market for
Social Committee,                                                       such an observation system to work;
                                                                        Whereas the Commission must be in a position to call
Whereas a market observation policy is an essential                     upon the active participation of national public auth-
component of the common transport policy whose aim is                   orities;
to ensure market transparency and a decision-making aid
for the competent authorities and the transport industry;
                                                                        Whereas the relevant findings must be published,
"Whereas the work undertaken by the Commission since                    HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
 1979 has demonstrated the feasibility and usefulness of
such a system; whereas such a system must now be put
on a permanent footing;                                                                            Article 1
                                                                        A European system for observing the inland goods
                                                                        transport markets is hereby established in the
Whereas the completion of the internal market implies
                                                                        Community.
the need to monitor the national and international
aspects of markets in view of their interdependence;
                                                                        (') OJ No L 390, 30. 12. 1989, p. 3.
Whereas a market observation system is necessary to                     (2) Not yet adopted.
support the crisis mechanism for cabotage in the road                    (3) OJ No L 116, 28. 4. 1989, p. 25.
haulage sector established by Council Regulation (EEC)                   (4) OJ N o L 390, 30. 12. 1989, p. 1.