50 associations denounce the EU's permeability to tobacco lobbying

As the European elections approach, around fifty French and European NGOs involved in the fight against smoking are calling in a forum[1], the European institutions to quickly address the issue of combating smoking in Europe. Anti-tobacco stakeholders also point out the weaknesses of the European Commission in the face of the tobacco lobby and its delay in publishing two essential directives to achieve a Tobacco-Free Generation by 2040.

Responsible for 700,000 premature deaths in the European Union, tobacco represents the greatest avoidable health risk in the European Union where it is responsible for 27% of cancers. In 2022, the European Commission adopted the European plan to beat cancer with the objective of a "tobacco-free generation" by 2040, i.e. to reduce the share of the population that consumes tobacco in Europe to less than 5 %. Despite this commitment, the issue of tobacco seems to have been abandoned by the Commission, deplores the collective of associations which urges future MEPs and commissioners to take up the subject.

Unexplained delay in the revision of European directives

The collective criticises the European institutions, and in particular the Commission, for the delay in revising the Tobacco Taxation Directive and the Tobacco Products Directive. These texts are considered essential to supervise and regulate tobacco and nicotine products and the harmful practices of the tobacco industry. The last update of the Taxation Directive dates back to 2011, and does not take into account the massive arrival of new tobacco and nicotine products (heated tobacco, vaping, nicotine pouches and pearls). This revision has become essential to regulate these products more strictly (taxation, flavours, packaging, warnings, maintaining and extending the ban on other products that manufacturers want to develop on the markets). Added to this is the possibility for Member States to legislate more easily on certain subjects in the face of very rapid market developments and according to the health priorities of their country.

Initially, the directive on taxation should have been revised in 2022 and that on tobacco products in 2024. However, last March, the Commission discreetly published a new timetable in which the revision of the texts is postponed indefinitely, and this without any explanation. Similarly, the Commission, despite the efforts of the Belgian presidency, has given up on updating the current text of the recommendation on "Smoke-free environments" intended in particular to protect against exposure to passive smoking.

The tobacco industry, omnipresent in the European institutions, blocks any new protective measures

The tobacco industry spends nearly €20 million each year and employs 200 lobbyists to influence health policies in Brussels. Last April, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly[2] warned of the risks associated with the influence of the tobacco lobby on the European Commission. She is concerned about unrecorded meetings and inadequate or absent minutes of meetings between some officials of Commission directorates and representatives of the tobacco industry.

Furthermore, some minutes do not provide a meaningful account of the matters discussed, limiting themselves to a brief summary of the general subject and statements made by Commission staff.

The challenge of revising the texts also lies in the risks for the industry of seeing its activity more controlled. Thus, in the column, the NGOs point out that the system for monitoring and tracing tobacco products set up at the European Union level remains linked to the tobacco industry. The independence criteria established by the European Commission are insufficient to ensure control over the entire supply chain. According to the signatories, the current system does not comply with the provisions that the European Union should put in place in terms of monitoring and tracing. Indeed, the European Union is a Party to the WTO Protocol on combating illicit trade in tobacco products. This subject of monitoring and tracing tobacco products is a crucial issue for both tobacco manufacturers and also for health and finance stakeholders. Indeed, tobacco manufacturers have been and continue to be regularly involved in organizing the smuggling of tobacco products. Untaxed products allow them to make substantially greater profits. On the contrary, the organization of smuggling or the oversupply of border markets by tobacco manufacturers penalizes public policies. Also, the WHO in its protocol provides for direct and indirect independence of tracking and tracing systems. The revision of the current system is part of the elements of the directive on tobacco products. The collusion and interference of the tobacco industry was particularly highlighted at the beginning of the year, during a debate in parliament. The European deputies thus questioned a representative of the European Commission on the conditions of the contract signed with the company Dentsu Tracking[3], the operator in charge of the traceability of tobacco products, linked to the tobacco industry. It appears that the choice of this company was initially made without a call for tenders, then renewed in December 2023 under the same conditions and the clauses of this contract remain unknown to this day. The reports of the meetings with Dentsu, requested by the MEPs, are incomplete.

Ylva Johansson, who represented the European Commission in this debate, assured that it observed all the rules of transparency and that the European code of ethics protected it from interference by lobbyists.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by the EU, sets out the principle of a "fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and those of public health. In particular, its Article 5.3 aims to protect public policies from the influence of the tobacco industry. It recommends that Parties limit interactions between public decision-makers and the tobacco industry to the strict minimum and ensure the transparency of those that do take place. According to the signatories and the Ombudsman's report, the regulations governing lobbying at the institutional level do not meet the required provisions.

©Generation Without Tobacco

AE