Friday 13 December 2013

Rubber stamping the Tobacco Products Directive

It looks like a small committee of MPs is going to rubber stamp the Tobacco Products Directive on Monday afternoon.


1. REGULATION OF TOBACCO AND RELATED PRODUCTS

To be considered on Monday 16 December at 4.30pm

Jane Ellison

That the Committee takes note of European Union Document No. 18068/12 and Addenda 1 to 7, a draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products; welcomes the success of the Government so far in securing agreement for top priority issues such as the prohibition of characterising flavours, including menthol, in tobacco products; supports the Government’s continued pursuit of its key negotiating objectives during Trilogue negotiations, primarily a text which provides adequate flexibility for Member States to go further in certain key areas of public health policy, including packaging, where the evidence supports this and it is justified by the Treaty; further notes that the Government recognises the importance of further strengthening the internal market, taking into account a high level of health protection; and supports the Government’s view that the proposed Directive is good for public health and will be a positive measure in the Government’s efforts to reduce the number of children and young people who take up smoking in the UK.

This is premature since we don't know what the TPD looks like yet, particularly with regards to e-cigarettes. It should also be noted that the commitment to "further strengthening the internal market"—which is the only legitimate justification for EU action—is incompatible with the objective of providing "adequate flexibility for Member States to go further in certain key areas".

The committee's members are Diane Abbott, Luciana Berger, Paul Burstow, Sir Tony Cunningham, Jane Ellison, Kelvin Hopkins, Andrew Jones, Jonathan Lord, Seema Malhotra, John Penrose, Jim Shannon, Henry Smith and David Tredinnick. It's unclear whether members of the public can attend.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

...where the evidence supports this...

Well that's all right then!

Junican said...

I followed your link which took me to "Commons European Business ....". The Text you quote seems to come under:
"European Committee C"
I can't see any connection between that and the Select Committee: The European Select Committee.
So what is this "European Committee C"?
These 'other committees' seem to be rather 'ad hoc'. Do they self-select the members?
I found this link if you are interested:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/gc-debates/european-committee/

The first two debates are in European Committee B. What I find odd is that the 'members' of that committee are completely different in the two meetings (apart from one person).
It seems to me that a member of the proper European Scrutiny Committee speaks to Comm B attendees and a Minister also speaks. The question in my mind is whether or not the Comm B members have formed a group and asked for a meeting.
If that is the case, then the group of MPs you mention are just a pressure group.