EU tobacco law: Borg carries out interservice consultation

Maltese EU Commissioner Tonio Borg had promised to move quickly on the Tobacco Products Directive and has kept his word, with the proposal for revision of new smoking laws set to be adopted by the College of Commissioners on 19 December. Two days after taking up his duties on 30 November, the new commissioner with responsibility for public health launched an interservice consultation  that lasted only 12 days, after having been postponed on a number of occasions by the selfsame Commission's secretary-general.

This directive is much awaited by public health NGOs, by MEPs, who have written to the European Commission president to highlight its importance, and by the tobacco industry, of course, but also because it comes in a context of suspicion following the resignation of John Dalli.

The former commissioner is suspected of failing to react appropriately to attempted bribe by a Maltese businessman, Silvio Zammit, that he solicited from a Swedish snus manufacturer.

Certain provisions in the directive will come under particular scrutiny: continuation of the ban on snus in the EU (except in Sweden) and introduction of the neutral package. The new rules will increase the size of health warnings from 40% to 75% of the pack's surface.