Tonio Borg, the European commissioner for health, said: “By ensuring that tobacco products look and taste like tobacco products, the new rules will help to reduce the number of people who start smoking in the EU.”
The tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris countered that: “The new rules will do little to improve public health and will make the EU less competitive, pushing even more consumers to the unregulated black market in tobacco.”
The new legislation requires bigger health warnings on packets of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco. All characterising flavours, such as menthol, will be prohibited as will the sale of packs with fewer than 20 cigarettes.
The most controversial update concerned electronic cigarettes. Under the revised law, it is up to member states to decide whether to regulate e-cigarettes as medicinal (if they help smokers to quit) or as tobacco products. If the latter is the case, they will be restricted to the same rules as normal cigarettes.
