European Union: Investigation opened into tobacco industry lobbying

Emily O'Reilly, the European Union Ombudsman, has launched an investigation to assess whether the European Commission is meeting its international commitments on transparency in lobbying by the tobacco industry.

The European Ombudsman is a body of the European Union whose mission is to conduct inquiries into reported cases of maladministration. In particular, this often involves verifying whether the institutions' administrative procedures are being properly complied with.

Transparency problem identified by the European Union Ombudsman

In an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Emily O'Reilly indicated that she was opening an investigation to understand to what extent "the Commission ensures that its interactions with representatives of tobacco interests are transparent."[1]She said that while the tobacco industry was likely to seek to challenge any regulatory initiative aimed at reducing tobacco consumption in the European Union, the Commission had a history of failing to make public the details of meetings held below the Directorates-General, other than those on health and taxation and the customs union.

WHO Framework Convention poorly respected by the European Union

For the European Union Ombudsman, current practices in the institutions do not allow for a comprehensive examination of the interactions between the Commission and the tobacco industry. However, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by the European Union, requires its Parties to ensure that interactions between public decision-makers and representatives of the tobacco industry are carried out in full transparency, and are limited to what is strictly necessary. Furthermore, Article 5.3 of the FCTC obliges the European Union to ensure that public policy-making is not influenced by the interests of the tobacco industry. Therefore, in order to conduct her investigation, Emily O'Reilly invited the President of the European Commission to provide her with all interactions, "including meetings and (video) calls between Commissioners, their cabinets and/or Commission staff and representatives of tobacco interests, that took place in 2020 and 2021".

Manufacturers' strong influence in the European Commission

While the role of European institutions is essential in the process of regulating tobacco products, particularly in terms of taxation, many observers highlight the strong influence of the tobacco industry in the Commission. For example, a report published in 2019 showed that the Commission partially or even completely refused to disclose information that is essential to ensure transparency in these interactions. This lobbying, aimed at “blocking, modifying or delaying” smoking regulations, in the words of British American Tobacco, has direct repercussions on the ability of public authorities to stem the tobacco epidemic in the European Union, where around 20% adults are still smokers.[2]In particular, the 2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which resulted in a ban on menthol cigarettes and rolling tobacco, has been identified as one of the most lobbying-intensive issues in the European Union.

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