Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products"
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 226/5 Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products’ (2000/C 226/02) THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS, having regard to the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products (presented by the European Commission — COM(1999) 594 final — 1999/0244 COD); having regard to the decision taken by the Council on 15 February 2000, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to consult the Committee of the Regions on the matter; having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 2 June 1999 to direct Commission 5 for Social Policy, Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism to draw up the relevant opinion; having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 5 on 6 March 2000 (CdR 32/2000 rev. 1) (rapporteur: Mr Sodano — I/NI); whereas Article 95(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community states that ‘the Council shall. adopt the measures for the approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States which have as their object the establishment and functioning of the internal market’; whereas Article 95(3) of the Treaty states that ‘the Commission, in its proposals (. ) concerning health, safety, environmental protection and consumer protection, will take as a base a high level of protection, taking account in particular of any new developments based on scientific facts’, adopted the following opinion at its 33rd plenary session held on 12 and 13 April 2000 (meeting of 12 April). The Committee of the Regions: 1. Welcomes the proposal, which is prompted by the agreed need to approximate the laws, regulations and administrat- the Member States concerning the ive provisions of manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, in order to eliminate differences which could create barriers to trade and impede the operation of the single market. 2. Notes that, taking as the base a high level of protection of public health, the proposal seeks to reduce levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes, with a view to reducing the harmful effects of smoking tobacco. 3. Stresses that the objective is a significant one, and the instruments for achieving it must be carefully weighed up in order to ensure that they are as effective as possible in securing the anticipated results. 4. Considers it important to alert the Commission to the need to also consider other more important means of protecting public health (in relation to smoking and the protection of non-smokers, e. g. by regulating smoking in public places and in the workplace), while giving the proposed directive the primary role of removing existing differences and regulating the operation of the single market. 5. Considers that in any case, when assessing the instruments to be adopted, one should also look at their impact on tobacco production, and particularly their possible economic impact in those Member States where tobacco provides one of the main sources of income (cf. the guidelines already issued by the European Commission (1)); also considers that the existing situation whereby the EU at the same time supports the fight against smoking as well as the growing of tobacco must come to an end as soon as possible; believes therefore that the EU must maximise its efforts to assist tobacco-growers to shift to other crops or other activities. (1) While acknowledging a perceived contradiction between Com- munity policy to reduce tobacco consumption and support for raw tobacco production, the Commission points out that discontinuing aid to tobacco growers would have grave impli- cations for around 200 000 jobs in growing and processing (COM(96) 554 final). C 226/6 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 8. 8. 2000 6. Would also point out that the proposed directive is more than just a consolidated version of the existing directives. It introduces new provisions whose complexity requires further careful consideration. 7. Welcomes the intention to evaluate the yield of other noxious substances (chemical additives) in tobacco prod- ucts. The aim here is twofold: a) to achieve a high level of protection of public health; b) to provide more extensive and more uniform infor- mation in the Member States, facilitating the removal of barriers to the smooth operation of the single market. 8. Proposes that, as regards b) in particular, a common list of additives be drawn up, together with a single method of analysis for use throughout the EU. This should ensure that there are no discrepancies between Member States’ provisions, given that the main aim of the proposal is to approximate such provisions. the proposed Article 6, dealing with 9. Considers that labelling, is unsatisfactory. The Committee has doubts about the effectiveness of this provision, given the tone of the required warnings (‘smoking kills’; ‘smoking can kill’) and the psychological impact of their form (size and colours). 10. Proposes with a view to providing accurate, standardised information about the constituents of the product — that the portion of the packet surface reserved for information Brussels, 12 April 2000. purposes be adjusted to the type of information concerned. The information provided should also be more extensive than is currently the case. As regards the colour require- ments, it might be sufficient to require that contrasting colours be used so that their content stands out. 11. Agrees with the Commission that terms such as low-tar, light, ultra light and mild are misleading, and wrongly suggest that one product is less harmful than others. 12. Thinks, however, that it would be useful to provide additional labelling to provide direct information on the relative content of the product. A standard EU classification system could be devised, using different colours or conven- tional terms to denote the varying amounts of the substanc- es present. 13. Calls, however, for effective measures to stave off the worsening poverty which will face tobacco-growing areas. Significant funding and other measures are needed in order to encourage a switch to alternative crops over the medium to long term, in the realisation that in the short term, any alternative crop is not attractive to growers. Similarly, ways should be considered for encouraging tobacco processing companies to switch to other products. 14. Considers that, given the importance of employment and public health issues, the two must go hand in hand. 15. Notes with regret that the Commission has not included the COR amongst the institutions it intends to report to; asks that this omission be corrected in the final text of the directive. The President of the Committee of the Regions Jos CHABERT