Brussels, 06/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the press conference on online sales sites of games, books, videos and music (see previous article), the commissioner for health and consumer protection, Tonio Borg, confirmed comments made three days earlier by his spokesman, Frédéric Vincent, regarding the tobacco products directive. He said it was not just his priority but the priority of everyone. The first day that he sat in his commissioner's chair, he said, the first thing he did was to submit the directive to interservice consultation on 29 November. The text will be presented at the end of December or early January depending on how long the examination takes. When asked about the introduction of a provision providing for plain or generic packaging on cigarette packets, in order to make them less attractive to young people, the commissioner said “there will be provisions on the packaging, strengthening them”. Pointing out that Australia recently brought in plain packaging and that this is being challenged at the WTO, Borg added that the proposal for a directive would leave member states a choice: “Each and every member state will have the right, if they want to, to introduce plain packaging”. (IL/transl.jl)