A number of EU countries have lodged concerns about the plain packaging tobacco proposals put forward by James Reilly when he was minister for health.
Portugal, Bulgaria and Slovenia have submitted concerns in recent weeks about the plans, which Dr Reilly brought to Cabinet in his final weeks in the Department of Health.
They have lodged objections on the basis that the proposals are incompatible with EU rules on the free movement of goods and services, among other issues. The deadline for submitting objections has been extended, with the possibility more could follow.
Dr Reilly’s plans were received by the European Commission on June 17th, just a week after he received approval from Cabinet.
Cabinet reshuffle
While he was moved out of the Department of Health in last month’s reshuffle, Dr Reilly will be taking some aspects of tobacco control policy with him to the Department of Children, although the exact details have yet to be finalised.
The law would ban the use of logos on packaging or on cigarettes. Graphic warnings would be mandatory on all packaging and terms such as “low tar” would be forbidden.
Ireland would be the first EU member state to introduce plain-packaging legislation, prompting anxiety in the global tobacco industry that an Irish law could set a precedent for Europe.
As part of EU rules, proposals regarding technical standards and regulations must be submitted to the commission. The plain-packaging initiative comes under the enterprise and industry arm of the commission.
Source: Fiach Kelly, Irish Times, 06/08/14
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