MEPs this month adopted legislation to ban tobacco advertising from the year 2006, resisting heavy lobbying from the tobacco industry. The overwhelming view was that with a half-million annual death toll in Europe from tobacco-related illnesses, any move to tackle this threat was more than welcome. Some members, such as Phillipe J Monfils (B, ELDR), argued that banning advertising would not reduce the number of smokers and instead would cause job losses in the industry. Others, such as Allan Macartney (Scotland, ERA) and Gerard Collins (Munster, UFE) were concerned about adverts being targeted at vulnerable teenagers. Indeed a Finnish member, Outi Ojala (Fin, EUL/NGL) pointed out that in Finland, smoking had been reduced by 37 per cent following the ban.
Mr Collins said that the industry would not spend some £320 million a year on advertising if it didn't think it was effective. A ban would be a step in the right direction, and it should be followed up with a promotion campaign to discourage youngsters from smoking.
Enforcing the ban may prove difficult. It is likely to be tested in the courts, especially as the opinion of the Legal Committee was that it was not enacted on a sound legal base. This controversy arose because the Commission put forward the proposal as an internal market measure, which allows binding EU legislation to be introduced; the Legal Committee argued that it should have been based on an EU Treaty clause concerned with public health, which only allows "recommendations". Commissioner Padraig Flynn rebutted this argument by pointing out that other pieces of legislation relating to tobacco labelling and banning television advertising had already been enacted under the internal market procedure.
The legislation includes a fixed-term exemption for certain forms of sponsorship, where tobacco companies have been given up to eight years to come into line. This applies to Formula One racing.
The newspaper industry has also been given one year to respect the ban, and it will not apply to practical measures used in the tobacco trade to advertise products, or specific information such as prices displayed in shops.
Speaking on the related issue of EU subsidies for tobacco production, Caroline Jackson (UK, EPP) said: "This year Europe spends some £675 million on subsidising tobacco, but also proposes to ban tobacco advertising. This is a crazy situation and we have to give priority to human health where we can."
The directive requires the Commission to report at intervals on its implementation, particularly on progress with the transition periods. It may propose amendments to take account of problems encountered. The directive takes account of the need to allow products to be promoted and advertised where they carry a brand name which is the same as the brand name of a tobacco product.