White Paper Calls for Stronger EU Alignment to WHO FCTC

In 2023, an informal EU parliamentary working group on tobacco products, led by French MEPs Anne-Sophie Pelletier, Pierre Larrouturou and the late Michèle Rivasi, organised a number of roundtables to discuss how the permeability of some European Commission departments to tobacco industry lobbying was causing delays in the revision of two important regulations (see TSTN July 2023).

‘The revision of Directive 2011/64/EU on the taxation of excise products, including tobacco (TTD), together with the revision of Directive 2014/40/EU on tobacco products, known as the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), are two highly anticipated updates that are being constantly delayed by a Commission under the influence of tobacco lobbying,’ explained Michèle Rivasi.

‘The taxation and traceability of tobacco products in Europe are major issues for both member states and the Union,’ she said.

‘On the one hand, the disparate taxation between countries undermines the efforts of national and European public authorities to fight against parallel trade.