Considerations on COM(1999)594 - Approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products (recast version)

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dossier COM(1999)594 - Approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, ...
document COM(1999)594 EN
date June  5, 2001
 
(1) Council Directive 89/622/EEC of 13 November 1989 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the labelling of tobacco products and the prohibition of the marketing of certain types of tobacco for oral use(5) was amended substantially by Directive 92/41/EEC(6). Since further amendments are to be made to that Directive, as well as to Council Directive 90/239/EEC of 17 May 1990 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the maximum tar yield of cigarettes(7), those Directives should be recast in the interests of clarity.

(2) There are still substantial differences between the Member States' laws, regulations and administrative provisions on the manufacture, presentation, and sale of tobacco products which impede the functioning of the internal market.

(3) Those barriers should be eliminated and, to this end, the rules relating to the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products should be approximated, while leaving Member States the possibility of introducing, under certain conditions, such requirements as they consider necessary in order to guarantee the protection of the health of individuals.

(4) In accordance with Article 95(3) of the Treaty, a high level of protection in terms of health, safety, environmental protection and consumer protection should be taken as a basis, regard being had, in particular, to any new developments based on scientific facts; in view of the particularly harmful effects of tobacco, health protection should be given priority in this context.

(5) Directive 90/239/EEC established maximum limits for the tar yield of cigarettes marketed in the Member States with effect from 31 December 1992. The carcinogenic nature of tar makes it necessary to reduce further the levels of tar in cigarettes.

(6) Directive 89/622/EEC established a general warning to be carried on the unit packaging of all tobacco products, together with additional warnings exclusively for cigarettes and, from 1992, extended the requirement for additional warnings to other tobacco products.

(7) Several Member States have indicated that, if measures establishing maximum carbon monoxide yields for cigarettes are not adopted at Community level, they will adopt such measures at national level. Differences in rules concerning carbon monoxide are likely to constitute barriers to trade and to impede the smooth operation of the internal market. In addition, cigarettes have been shown to produce amounts of carbon monoxide which are hazardous to human health and capable of contributing to heart disease and other ailments.

(8) A revision of the regulatory framework needs to evaluate evidence-based claims for tobacco products designed and/or marketed to 'reduce risk', or for which harm reduction is claimed by the manufacturers.

(9) There are differences between the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States on the limitation of the maximum nicotine yield of cigarettes. Such differences are liable to constitute barriers to trade and to impede the smooth operation of the internal market. Member States and scientific authorities have raised specific problems of public health in a field which has already been the subject of prior harmonisation measures, which the Commission has examined.

(10) Those obstacles should accordingly be eliminated and to that end the release for free circulation, marketing and manufacture of cigarettes should be made subject to common rules not only concerning tar but also concerning maximum nicotine and carbon monoxide levels.

(11) This Directive will also have consequences for tobacco products which are exported from the European Community. The export regime is part of the common commercial policy. Health requirements are, pursuant to Article 152(1) of the Treaty and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, to form a constituent part of the Community's other policies. Rules should be adopted in order to ensure that the internal market provisions are not undermined.

(12) The provisions of this Directive are without prejudice to Community legislation governing the use and labelling of genetically modified organisms.

(13) Internationally applicable standards for tobacco products are one of the subjects of the negotiations for the drafting of a World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

(14) For measuring the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields of cigarettes, reference should be made to ISO standards 4387, 10315 and 8454, which are the only internationally recognised standards, it being understood that subsequent research and technological progress to be promoted should make it possible to develop and use more precise and reliable measurement methods for cigarette yields and to develop measurement methods for the other tobacco products.

(15) There are no internationally agreed standards or tests for quantifying and assessing the yields of constituents in cigarette smoke other than tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. A procedure for development of such standards, in consultation with the International Standards Organisation, is therefore necessary.

(16) In Directive 90/239/EEC, in view of particular socioeconomic problems, Greece was granted a derogation from the time limits for the implementation of maximum tar yields. That derogation should be maintained for the period stipulated.

(17) The application of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide ceilings to exported cigarettes should be subject to transitional arrangements in order to allow more time to change product specifications and to allow for the establishment of internationally agreed standards.

(18) Transitional periods should also be provided for in relation to other provisions of this Directive in order to allow the necessary modifications in production to take place and for disposal of stocks, particularly for products other than cigarettes. Use of irremovable labels should be allowed to facilitate the introduction of the labelling requirements of this Directive.

(19) The presentation of warning labels and yields has continued to remain variable in the different Member States. As a consequence, consumers in one Member State may be better informed as to the risks of tobacco products than in another. Such differences are unacceptable and are liable to constitute a barrier to trade and to impede the operation of the internal market in tobacco products, and should therefore be eliminated. It is necessary to that end that the existing legislation be strengthened and clarified, while ensuring a high level of health protection.

(20) Provision should be made for batches of tobacco products to be marked so that those products are traceable for the purposes of monitoring compliance with this Directive.

(21) The direct and indirect socioeconomic costs of active and passive tobacco use should be regularly evaluated and made available to the public in the context of the appropriate Community programmes.

(22) The situation varies in the different Member States regarding the ingredients and additives used in the manufacture of tobacco products. A number of Member States have neither existing legislation nor voluntary agreements in place on those substances. Several Member States in which such legislation or voluntary agreements exist receive no information from tobacco manufacturers on the quantities of such ingredients and additives present in particular tobacco products on a brand name by brand name basis. An approximation of the measures applicable in this field should be introduced, resulting in greater transparency.

(23) The lack of information together with the lack of toxicological data prevents the relevant authorities in the Member States from assessing in any meaningful manner the toxicity of, and hazards posed to the health of the consumer by, tobacco products. This is inconsistent with the obligation placed on the Community to ensure a high level of protection for human health.

(24) Member States should be able to adopt more stringent rules concerning tobacco products which they deem necessary to protect public health, in so far as the rules in the Directive are not prejudiced, and subject to the provisions of the Treaty.

(25) Pending the establishment of the common list of ingredients referred to in Article 12, Member States may provide for the prohibition of the use of ingredients which have the effect of increasing the addictive properties of tobacco products, since the use of such ingredients may undermine the limits on nicotine levels laid down in this Directive.

(26) Tobacco products have been shown to contain and emit many noxious substances and known carcinogens hazardous to human health when burnt. In recent years it has also been shown that passive smoking is dangerous in particular to unborn children and infants and that it can cause or aggravate respiratory problems in persons inhaling smoke. Moreover, 80 % of new smokers in the Community are below the age of 18. The greatest possible transparency of product information should be ensured, while ensuring that appropriate account is taken of the commercial and intellectual property rights of the tobacco manufacturers.

(27) The use on tobacco product packaging of certain texts, such as 'low-tar', 'light', 'ultra-light', 'mild', names, pictures and figurative or other signs, may mislead the consumer into the belief that such products are less harmful and give rise to changes in consumption. Smoking behaviour and addiction, and not only the content of certain substances contained in the product before consumption, also determine the level of inhaled substances. This fact is not reflected in the use of such terms and so may undermine the labelling requirements set in this Directive. In order to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market, and given the development of proposed international rules, the prohibition of such use should be provided for at Community level, giving sufficient time for introduction of this rule.

(28) Directive 89/622/EEC prohibited the sale in the Member States of certain types of tobacco for oral use. Article 151 of the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden grants the Kingdom of Sweden a derogation from the provisions of that Directive in this regard.

(29) Technical and scientific progress in the field of tobacco products calls for regular re-evaluation of the provisions and the application of this Directive in Member States. To that end provision should be made for a procedure for the Commission to draw up regular reports supported by scientific and technical data. Certain data ought to be examined with particular attention in this context.

(30) In connection with the fixing of maximum yields, it ought to be considered whether, on the one hand, it is advisable at a later date to reduce the yields fixed and in particular how, if at all, they are connected and, on the other hand, whether standards on these matters should be developed for products other than cigarettes, in particular rolling tobacco.

(31) As regards tobacco products other than cigarettes, standards and measurement methodologies need to be developed at Community level, and to this end the Commission should be requested to submit appropriate proposals.

(32) As regards the other ingredients, including additives, the drawing up of a common list ought to be considered, with a view to subsequent harmonisation.

(33) The size of the internal market in tobacco products and the increasing tendency of tobacco manufacturers to concentrate production for the whole of the Community in only a small number of production plants within the Member States, calls for legislative action to achieve the smooth operation of the internal market in tobacco products to be carried out at Community rather than national level.

(34) The functioning of the common organisation of the market in raw tobacco is to be the subject of a Commission report to the European Parliament and Council in 2002(8). The Commission has indicated that such report will also examine the issue of integration of public health considerations, including the standards established in this Directive, in other Community policies, as required under Article 152 of the Treaty.

(35) In applying this Directive, provision should be made for establishing time limits which allow, on the one hand, completion to a maximum degree of efficiency of the process of conversion already begun by Directive 90/239/EEC, and, on the other, consumers and manufacturers to adapt to products with a lower tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yield.

(36) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(9).

(37) This Directive should be without prejudice to the time limits within which the Member States must transpose and apply the Directives set out in Annex II.