Midnight on Wednesday was the deadline for feedback to a European Commission initiative entitled 'Smoke-free environments – updated recommendation'.
According to the 'Call for evidence' document, the 'problem the initiative aims to tackle' is as follows:
The 2009 Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments only included traditional tobacco products (perceived as the main issue at the time) and some public spaces, such as indoor and enclosed spaces, in its scope. Other public spaces (including certain outdoor spaces, such as schools, playgrounds and outdoor eating establishments) were only covered on the basis of a case-by-case hazard assessment.
In 2009, heated tobacco products (HTPs) had not yet entered the EU market and e-cigarettes only to a minor extent. The Recommendation therefore targeted traditional tobacco products by referring to ‘tobacco smoke’, meaning that it could not be directly applied to all emerging products. Since 2009, e-cigarettes and HTPs have consolidated their market shares and they appeal, in particular, to young consumers.
In other words, the EC wants to update the 2009 Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments to take into account the growing prevalence of vaping.
At the same time the Commission seems to want to revisit smoking in outdoor spaces with a view to recommending action in what it calls additional outdoor spaces.
Although the UK is no longer a member of the EU it doesn’t mean we should ignore initiatives like this because ideas developed at EU level could very easily be adopted by parliamentarians in the UK.
For example, had the UK been outside the EU when menthol flavoured tobacco was banned as part of the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive I’d have put a large wager on the policy being adopted by the UK (at the behest of the Department of Health) to bring us into line with our continental neighbours.
Either way the initiative confirms my recent posts about creeping prohibition. It also confirms my argument that regulations imposed on smoking will almost certainly be extended to vaping products in the future.
To be clear, the 'Smoke-free environments – updated recommendation' initiative is exactly what it says – a recommendation – and presumably non-binding but the updated recommendation will nevertheless indicate the direction of travel within the EU.
The online form limited us to 4,000 characters but if you're interested you can read Forest’s feedback here.
Although our focus was on the threat to the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in public places (indoors and out), I suspect that our response will be the only one that also objects to smoke-free environments being extended to outdoor spaces.
Here's what we wrote:
We object strongly to any suggestion that the Council’s 2009 Recommendation might be extended so that smoking is banned in additional outdoor spaces such as outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants. Smoking outside does not present a significant risk to anyone else's health and there is no justification to extend smoking bans to more outdoor spaces.
Smoking and/or vaping in the open air is NOT a public health issue because there is no evidence that it presents a significant risk to the health of non-smokers. Smoking and vaping on outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants is a matter for individual businesses. If there is significant customer demand for an extension of the smoking ban to additional outdoor areas proprietors will act in their own self interest. In general businesses must be allowed to devise policies on smoking and vaping that best suit their business.
The EC website says the initiative received 207 items of 'unique feedback' which doesn’t seem very many to me so I guess it's gone under the radar a bit. For what it’s worth the response is broken down as follows:
EU citizen: 101 (48.79%)
Non-governmental organisation (NGO): 28 (13.53%)
Business association: 20 (9.66%)
Company/business organisation: 18 (8.70%)
Other: 15 (7.25%)
Consumer organisation: 8 (3.86%)
Academic/research Institution: 6 (2.90%)
Non-EU citizen: 6 (2.90%)
Public authority: 4 (1.93%)
Trade union: 1 (0.48%)
Curiously the most responses were received from Romania (39/19%) followed by Germany (31/15%), Spain (26/13%), Italy (26/13%) and Belgium (21/10%).
The UK contributed ten ‘valid feedback instances’ (5% of the total). Apart from Forest the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) also responded but the others were mostly individual citizens.
Let's see what develops but for the moment I consider it a Brexit bonus that the UK is not directly involved.
It’s the type of ghastly bureaucratic process the European Union excels in and I remember only too well the frustration of being an active participant while knowing in advance that the outcome was almost certainly a foregone conclusion.
C’est la vie.