Senior EU officials are considering heavily restricting citizens’ ability to smoke on balconies and in private cars.
Representatives in the Council of the European Union are pushing for a far-reaching ban on smoking and vaping in private places such as people’s balconies and cars.
The drastic proposal has been floated during negotiations with the Council’s Working Party on Public Health, which consists of representatives from member states’ national governments, alongside officials from the European Commission and other EU institutions.
According to documents seen by Brussels Signal, the timing for revising existing laws to include the ban was unclear, though officials emphasised that the revamp was “already underway and should be completed quickly”.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen was said to have already given “a clear mandate in the Mission Letter to the EU Health Commissioner to evaluate and revise tobacco legislation”.
Artur Furtado of the Commission’s Health and Food Safety department (DG SANTE) had presented “the long-awaited revision” of the Council’s recommendation for smoke-free and aerosol-free environments, part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, in late September.
In the discussed recommendation, the Council Working Group on Public Health aimed to create a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040.
It took an aggressive stance on passive smoking and the proposal also included “an extension to outdoor areas and public spaces”.
That would mean areas such as terraces and the entrances of shopping malls would become off-limits to smoking, as would private cars, at least in cases where children were present.
“The vast majority of member states … expressly welcomed the proposal,” the diplomatic cable read, with many said to have already implemented such measures at the national level.
According to reporting by the EC, 24 per cent of EU citizens smoke traditional tobacco, 3 per cent use e-cigarettes and 2 per cent use other heated tobacco products, with novel products being especially popular among young people.
In outdoor or public spaces, 74 per cent and 71 per cent of citizens, respectively, noticed cigarette or e-cigarette use, with about half of these instances occurring where children were present. Member states aimed to combat smoking in the presence of children and adolescents in particular.
The EU plan is aimed to protect EU citizens from passive smoking both indoors and outdoors and envisioned extending its scope to include novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, as well as outdoor areas and public spaces, with the goal of “denormalising the consumption of cigarettes and novel tobacco products”.
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During the negotiations, countries including Estonia and Finland pushed for banning smoking in private areas such as on balconies and in personal living spaces, especially where children were present.
Latvia told the group that it had already implemented bans on smoking on private balconies in the presence of children or if neighbours complained about the smoke.
Ireland said it was already planning to raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes to 21 years and to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes.
Finland stated it aimed to be tobacco-free by 2030.
Proponents argued that the recommendation was simply an update of existing policies, backed by scientific studies, but some member states appeared hesitant.
While supporting the recommendation’s overall goals, Denmark emphasised the need for careful messaging, stressing that the focus of external communications should be on protecting children and young people, rather than giving the impression that the EU wants to interfere in citizens’ private lives.
Poland expressed concern that the absence of precise terminology for novel tobacco products and “tobacco surrogates” could lead to interpretation difficulties.
Lithuania emphasised the need for a balanced approach to the measures, while Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus cautioned that the recommendations’ goals must be realistic.
Greece also warned that certain measures could negatively impact tourism but that was countered by studies indicating that customer and staff satisfaction increased with such smoke bans.
A clear definition of “public space”, to avoid ambiguity and prevent potential overreach in enforcement, also appeared to be a difficult issue.
The Council Secretariat was unable to answer if it was legal to smoke in smoking cabins in the Council building and ordered that be looked into.
Italy, Portugal, and Bulgaria criticised what they saw as the lack of a new impact assessment for the revised recommendation, suggesting that the Council’s working party may be moving too quickly without fully considering the potential consequences of its proposals.
The planned changes raised eyebrows due to its broad scope and potential implications for personal privacy and individual rights but, within the tobacco industry, it struck a nerve.
Japan Tobacco International (JTI), a leading international tobacco product manufacturer, appeared to be excluded from the conversation. JTI said it had already sent a letter to Commissioner Schinas asking for more information in mid-September, with the company saying that, as of writing, it was still waiting for an answer.
A spokesperson for the company noted that the Hungarian Presidency of the Council seemed to want to rush the proposals through.
“With the upcoming hearings, the EP [European Parliament] may not be able to provide an opinion in time for this timeline. It could be interesting to know why they are pushing it,” the spokesperson said.
In a commentary on the matter, JTI wondered if it was appropriate for the EU “to boss anyone around by telling them not to smoke in a zoo?”
It added: “Liberal societies have fought for a long time to escape the nanny state syndrome, and don’t wish for it to return. In such a society, the state’s responsibility is to regulate for safety, not to make choices on behalf of their citizens, nor tell them how to live their lives.
“At JTI, we believe that such state interference should not prevail, but rather uphold the respect of individual autonomy and personal responsibility. This is particularly true for wanting to ban or regulate smoking in private areas, homes or vehicles.”
The company claimed: “The application of smoke-free environment measures to heated tobacco and e-cigarettes has not been based on solid scientific evidence,” noting that the only publication evaluated by the EC that examined the second-hand risk of emerging products was the SCHEER Report on e-cigarettes. That found “weak to moderate evidence of risks of respiratory, cardiovascular and carcinogenic damage due to second-hand exposure to e-cigarette aerosols”.
JTI also lamented what it said was the lack of distinction between traditional cigarettes and everything else, adding that plans go against the most recent Eurobarometer, which showed that a majority of respondents who started using e-cigarettes cited a desire to quit smoking or reduce cigarette consumption as the primary reason for their decision to do so.
“Therefore, the right for adult consumers who have made the informed choice to use such products should be preserved, notably in public spaces. The counter-effect of extending such a ban to emerging products must be carefully considered by regulators,” the company concluded.
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— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 24, 2024
