Pressure is mounting on the future tobacco product tracking and follow-up system, which is supposed to be presented by the “end of the summer”. The industry and the anti-smoking lobby do not share the same points of view on the characteristics to which such a system should respond, according to the exchanges of views at the European Parliament on Tuesday 11 July.
It should be pointed out that the directive on tobacco products (2014/ 40/EU) introduces a raft of measures to tackle the illegal trade in tobacco products. This includes a European system for identifying and following up the legal supply chain and a security mechanism that helps detect illegal tobacco products. Under the terms of the directive, the Commission is in charge of defining the technical standards for these two provisions in view of their forthcoming introduction in 2019 for cigarettes and rolling tobacco and in 2024 for other tobacco products.
A draft delegated an act “after the summer”
During a joint exchange of views organised by the budget control and environment committees at the European Parliament, the European Commission provided assurances on Tuesday that it would stick to the deadlines. The deputy director-general of the Commission’s Health services, Martin Seychell, explained, “with regard to the indicative timetable, we are planning on adoption by the end of the year (the act will be published at the same time as an impact study: Ed). I hope the draft will be published for consultation this summer, in compliance with the ‘Better Regulation’ programme”.
Afterwards, MEPs put forward their positions and were able to address a range of questions to the representatives from the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF), the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) and the coalition against the illegal tobacco trade. Overall, they mainly concentrated on the question of the deadline, which they consider too tight.
In the guise of a conclusion, the director of the SFP, Florence Berteletti-Kemp emphasised that the calendar was just a detail. According to the latter, what counts is guaranteeing the independence of the future tracking system, as planned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) framework convention in the fight against smoking.
Commission’s preferred options
It is still too early to tell what the future system will look like. Nonetheless, the report issued by the group of experts at the meeting in May on tobacco products indicated that the Commission had now identified its preferred options.
Therefore, on the question of a unique identifier (UI), the Commission appears to be in favour of a “mixed solution”. According to this option, member states would nominate independent third parties in charge of developing codes, while the industry would be in charge of more technical aspects, namely completing timestamps and applying and verifying the UI on packs. There would also be a time stamped on each unit pack and the aggregated levels.
With regard to data, the preferred option includes registration and secure and near real-time transmission of purchase orders, invoices and receipt of payment. The said data would be stored in multiple decentralised repositories, selected by each manufacturer/importer, with a common data repository and guaranteed access for member state authorities and the Commission
Industry and customs’ concerns
These “suggestions” immediately provoked a defensive response from the industry, which is very concerned about to the idea of having to timestamp every unique identifier.
The group of experts’ workshop on tobacco products, industry representatives (including the Polish, Belgian, Latin, Lithuanian and remaining Chambers of Commerce) has sent the Commission a letter denouncing the control system as, “cumbersome and inefficient… which has, moreover, never been tested in the real-world”. The letter adds, “simpler and less bureaucratic solutions already exist and our experience in tracking and follow-up appears to have been quite simply ignored”. Tobacco manufacturers have clearly demonstrated a preference in their public consultation for a system that is close to the one currently used, the Codentify. In this system, they have significant room for manoeuvre (see EUROPE 11817).
In response to these concerns, the Commission replied on 6 July, that the measures from the group of experts were simply advisory and did not represent its position. Several sources, however, assert that they are convinced that this is not the case
During the high-level group meeting of customs directors general, 17 countries (Hungary, Denmark, Greece, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Croatia) also expressed their “deep concerns” about the tight deadline.
According to our information, the Czech Republic has been particularly vocal due to the significant number of small producers on its territory.
To consult the meeting’s report, see here: http://bit.ly/2vgtRby (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)