EU tobacco overhaul ‘very well advanced’ as Brussels targets vapes and heated tobacco
Health ministers met for an informal Council meeting in Dublin, with tobacco reform, the Biotech Act and medical devices topping the agenda
The European Commission is “very well advanced” in preparing an overhaul of EU tobacco rules that will address newer products including vapes and heated tobacco, Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said Thursday, as health ministers discussed rising nicotine use among young people.
Speaking after an informal meeting of EU health ministers in Dublin, Várhelyi said the Commission remained committed to publishing a comprehensive review of tobacco legislation, including advertising rules, this year.
“We are very well advanced in the preparation of the proposals,” Várhelyi told a press conference alongside Irish Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
The forthcoming legislation is expected to tackle newer tobacco and nicotine products, including vapes and heated tobacco. Várhelyi said use of such products among young people was twice as high as among the broader population, putting nicotine addiction at the centre of the Commission’s approach.
Ireland, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, stressed the need for an EU-wide response to newer nicotine products rather than a patchwork of national measures.
It is important to revise the Tobacco Products Directive “so that we can deal with the cross-border element of this and create a genuinely harmonized system,” Carroll MacNeill said.
“Colleagues are concerned about the capacity of nicotine addictive companies to create new and novel ways of getting children addicted to nicotine.”
Earlier in the week, when asked about whether he was aware that Dutch reporters had found that industry had been gaming the consultations on the Tobacco Products Directive and Tobacco Advertising Directive Várhelyi said: “Yes, we have seen some interesting, dare I say, innovative ways of trying to influence this, but I think that we have the tools to to have a proper understanding of all the contributions that we receive.”
Catherine Feore
Beyond tobacco, Várhelyi urged governments to move quickly on two other major health files - the European Biotech Act and reform of EU medical device rules - which Ireland is seeking to advance during its Council presidency.
The Biotech Act is intended to make Europe more attractive for health innovation by simplifying rules around areas including multinational clinical trials, advanced therapies and biomanufacturing. Ireland has put particular emphasis on clinical trials, arguing that a more integrated European system could give patients in smaller countries access to studies they currently miss out on.
Medical devices reform, meanwhile, aims to cut regulatory complexity and address bottlenecks that can delay devices from reaching patients, while maintaining safety standards.
“This is the moment to deliver this because this is the moment when long-term decisions are made in this sector,” Várhelyi said. “For this to succeed, we can only achieve it if we have speed, if we have simplicity and if we have predictability.”