30/11/2017 (Agence Europe) – The European Union will soon have a traceability system and security features in place to strengthen the legal supply chain for tobacco products. The member states accepted the technical standards that the Commission proposed on 4 September (see EUROPE 11859). According to our information, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary and Latvia abstained on traceability, and Hungary and Latvia abstained on the security features. The new standards will apply from May 2019 for cigarettes and rolling tobacco, and from May 2024 for other tobacco products. The text makes provision for a one-year transition period for cigarettes and rolling tobacco and a two-year transition period for the other products to allow packets which do not comply with the new rules or imported packets to be sold off. (SPj)