ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION “TOBACCO PRODUCTS DIRECTIVE”
Francisco Rodríguez Lozano. President of the Spanish Committee for Smoking Prevention, Board of the European Network of Smoking and Tobacco Prevention
The Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3rd April 2014 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 repeals -brings up to date- Directive 2001/37/EC. It regulates those aspects the European Parliament and the Council are competent to regulate, such as different aspects of selling and use, promotion, and advertisement of e-cigarettes, but it does not regulate those aspects the Member States are competent for.
There has been a discussion on the appropriateness of including electronic cigarettes (or electronic nicotine delivery systems) in this Directive: arguments for and against will be briefly summarized. The main regulations, as well as the main novelties included in the Directive, which should be transposed by Member States, will be presented: the maximum content and concentration of nicotine, implementation of security measures, better information to consumers, additives restriction, and promotion and advertisement prohibition.
Finally, the modification of the 2005 Spanish Tobacco Law to include electronic cigarettes will be presented: its main characteristics and controversial points, and the reaction it has generated from health professionals.
Francisco Rodríguez Lozano is Medical Doctor, Specialist in Dentistry and Master in Tobacco Control. He is the current President of the Spanish National Committee on Tobacco Control (CNPT) and Board member of the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP). Lozano is adjunct professor in the Master in Tobacco Dependence and has authored different guides on smoking cessation for dentistry professionals. He has intensively lobbying with Spanish members of Spanish Parliament, union representatives, and journalists for the amendment and maintenance of the latest Spanish Tobacco Control Law (2010) and with the Spanish members of the European Parliament for the latest Tobacco Products Directive (2014).
