The next phase of the review of the Tobacco Taxation Directive has started. A public consultation is now open, ending on 22 June. The Roadmap consultation earlier this year only received 134 submissions. It is really important for consumers to give their views now.
Tobacco harm reduction news from Europe
The tax directive consultation is out - time for you to give your views on taxation for safer alternatives to smoking. The Swedish government is proposing a flavour ban for e-liquids. Germany is advancing with their tax plans, which will make vaping more expensive than smoking. Customs seizures of smuggled snus reached a record high in Finland. Read on for more on that and lots of other news.
On 3 February 2021, the long-awaited Eurobarometer report was published. Titled “Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and electronic cigarettes,” the survey examined European citizen's relationship with tobacco and related products. Fieldwork was conducted between August 2020 and September 2020 and involved interviews with 28,228 people from 27 EU member states and the UK. Data from the previous Eurobarometer report in 2017 is also made available for comparison. It is an extensive report, 334 pages long, with separate factsheets available for each member state plus the UK. A 54-page summary of the main points is also available. The importance of the Eurobarometer cannot be overstated as it will feed into the TPD review due latest 20 May. See our article “What do we know about the TPD application report” for more details.
Read more: Eurobarometer: Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and electronic cigarettes
Tobacco harm reduction news from Europe.
The Commission published their dismal Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan early in February. News from Germany added to the gloom, when the German finance minister revealed plans for exorbitant taxes on e liquids and to equate heated tobacco products with cigarettes there. Happily, the month ended well with the publication of Public Health England’s annual update, which confirmed that vaping is best for quitting smoking and that UK youth are not interested in vaping. Read on for more on that and lots of other news.
- Europe's Beating Cancer plan fails smokers
- ETHRA January news roundup
- Urgent Call to Action for Flavour ban
- Seasons Greetings, calls to action, news round up and 2021
- Special Committee on Beating Cancer hearing on prevention
- Spain SOS
- Anti vaping MEP Michèle Rivasi heads “informal” TPD working group
- ETHRA launches major survey on nicotine use in Europe
- Have a heart
- Happy Birthday ETHRA!
- 75% of French people do not know that vaping is less harmful than smoking
- Neutral packaging for safer nicotine products will cause more smoking
- Europe's Beating Cancer Plan Town Hall
- Anti-THR measures in Denmark - our letter
- Proposed flavour ban in the Netherlands - letter
- Smoking and pregnancy: should we really discourage vaping, at the risk of smoking?
- The Belgian government is making a huge mistake by considering e-cigarettes to be as harmful as conventional cigarettes
- Germany must use its EU Presidency to act wisely on e-cigarettes
- Europe-wide consumer organisation launches manifesto on behalf of millions of former smokers
- Estonia takes the first steps towards recognising tobacco harm reduction