35 Advertising and sponsorship of tobacco
products
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10184/01
COM(01) 283
| Draft Council Directive on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products.
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| Legal base | Articles 47(2), 55 and 95 EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Health |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 24 September 2003
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 152-iv (2001-02), paragraph 2 (7 November 2001),
HC 152-xxvi (2001-02), paragraph 3 (24 April 2002) and HC 63-xxix (2002-03), paragraph 6 (10 July 2003)
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| To be discussed in Council | Not applicable (see paragraph 35.4 below)
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
35.1 The story of the Community's attempts to introduce a ban
on the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products —
summarized in our Report of 24 April 2002 — is long and
complex, due in part to difficulties over establishing an appropriate
legal base, and in part to the controversy generated by the exemptions
proposed for certain sporting events, in particular Formula One
motor racing. However, as we noted in that Report, the Commission's
most recent proposal of May 2001 would require Member States to
bring in laws which would prohibit:
· advertising
of tobacco products in the press and other printed publications,
other than that limited to publications intended exclusively for
professionals in the tobacco trade and to those published and
printed in third countries which are not principally intended
for the Community market: this provision would also apply to internet
advertising;
· all forms of
radio advertising of tobacco products, including sponsorship by
companies manufacturing or selling tobacco products;
· the sponsorship
of events or activities involving or taking place in several Member
States, or otherwise having cross-border effects; and
· the free distribution
of tobacco products in the context of such events.
35.2 In all cases, including sponsorship at events
such as Formula One, it was envisaged that these provisions would
need to be in place by 31 July 2005, but that the Commission would
review the action taken no later than five years after the Directive
had entered into force.
35.3 Although much of our Report was concerned with
the availability of an Opinion provided by the Council Legal Services
(on which we subsequently reported at some length on 10 July 2003),
we also asked the Government to let us know the progress of discussions
in the Council on the substance of the proposal (on which the
Government had previously indicated that it would be pressing
for exceptional global events, such as Formula One, to be allowed
to retain tobacco sponsorship for a "short transitional period
up to 2006"). This resulted in letters of 25 and 28 November
2002 to our Chairman from the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Department of Health (Ms Hazel Blears), indicating
that the Danish Presidency was likely to be seeking political
agreement at a meeting of the Health Council on 2 December 2002.
She said that she would keep us informed of the situation following
the European Parliament's first reading on 20 November 2002, in
the hope that this would enable us to clear the proposal in advance
of the Council in question.
Minister's letter of 24 September 2003
35.4 Since we did not in fact receive any further
information from the Minister, we took the opportunity in our
Report of 9 July 2003 to ask her successor where matters now stood.
As a result, we have received a letter of 24 September 2003 from
the present Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Miss Melanie
Johnson), enclosing an undated letter from her predecessor —
which never reached us — setting out the outcome of the
Health Council on 2 December 2002. This indicated that, as a
result of a "first reading deal" with the Parliament,
the Council agreed a text based on the Commission's original proposal,
subject only to two minor amendments in the recitals. It added
that the UK had voted against the measure, on the grounds that
its drafting in some places lacked clarity. The present Minister
says that the text has since been published in the Official Journal
as Directive 2003/33/EEC,[75]
and is to be implemented by the Member States by 31 July 2005.
Conclusion
35.5 Although it is unfortunate that the letter
sent to us following the Council on 2 December 2002 never reached
us, we can do little more at this stage than note the outcome,
including the fact that the resulting Directive has now been published
in the Official Journal, and clear the document. In doing so,
we also note that the Directive will apply to all events, including
Formula One motor racing, on the same date.
75 OJ No. L.152, 20.6.03, p.16. Back
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