Proposed EU smoking regulations set to face tobacco industry resistance

Stricter EU-wide rules on the content and labelling of cigarettes have been proposed by the Irish EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr David Byrne.

Taking up the battle with tobacco companies where his predecessor, Mr Padraig Flynn, left off, Mr Byrne won support at the Commission's meeting in Strasbourg for new regulations which would cut maximum tar levels from 12 to 10 milligrams per cigarette.

They would also introduce for the first time carbon monoxide limits of 10 milligrams and nicotine ceilings of one milligram. Producers would be required to notify national authorities of any additives mixed with tobacco.

In amending three old directives, Mr Byrne would also force producers to print larger health warnings, as well as warnings that smoking increases the risks of cardiovascular disease. The use of the terms "mild" and "low tar" would be restricted.

The draft directive, which is supposed to come into effect at the end of 2003, now goes to the Health Council, where it is expected to meet resistance from ministers.

Mr Flynn and his predecessor fought for almost a decade to get agreement in 1998 on the ban on tobacco advertising which is still being contested by the industry in the courts.

The industry argues that the legislation is flawed because the Commission used a Single Market Treaty clause to justify it, rather than a more restrictive public healthcare legal base.

Mr Byrne said yesterday that tobacco kills half a million EU citizens a year and is the biggest cause of death. The Commission faced an obligation to act, he said, particularly since the Treaty of Amsterdam. There was a worrying increase in the number of young women smokers.

But he insisted that the emphasis was on proportionate measures and an attempt to inform smokers, not to stigmatise them.