Tobacconists have claimed exclusivity over the sale of e cigarettes in France, which are currently sold in all shops. The tobacco directive remains silent over the sensitive issue.

In France, a tobacconist lodged a complaint against a dealer of electronic cigarettes for unfair competition because the product can be considered as a derivative of tobacco, the plaintiff claimed.

The case has put the distribution of e cigarettes to the forefront of the political debate. In France, there is a legal vacuum on the matter, even though a law dating back to 1983 states that cigarettes and smoking products “fall under the monopoly distribution of tobacconists , “even if they do not contain tobacco”.

Another legal controversy surrounds advertising, which is prohibited in France since the introduction of the Evin law. The French Health Minister, Marisol Touraine, promised several times that advertising for e cigarettes would be prohibited but has not tabled any legislation so far.

In 2013, the e cigarette business is expected to amount to 200 million, according to official figures.

“70% of our network already offers electronic cigarettes for sale,” says Jean Luc Renaud, secretary general of the Confederation of tobacconists, which has some 27,000 members in France.

The sums at stake are not negligible. Tobacco products are taxed at about 80% of their selling price. But e cigarettes are considered like any consumer product and are therefore subject to VAT alone, which amounts to 19.6% in France.

For Jean Luc Renaud, of the Confederation of tobacconists, e cigarettes fall under the tobacco sale monopoly law and should therefore be sold exclusively by tobacconists. “We want that the sale of the electronic cigarette is done exclusively within the framework of the network of tobacconists,” he said.

A European directive in negotiation

At EU level, other countries have monopolies on tobacco sales, such as Denmark or Sweden, but existing EU laws have remained silent on e cigarettes until now.

This could change soon. The European Parliament voted for a new draft tobacco directive earlier in October, which provides a clearer framework for e cigarettes but does not address retail issues.

The Parliament’s green light now opens the way for negotiations with the representatives of the 28 EU member states, with MEPs hoping to clinch a deal before the European elections in May 2014.

Once the directive is enacted, member states will then have 18 months to transpose it into national law.

Do smokers in europe think all cigarettes are equally harmful? – pubmed – ncbi

Cigarettes online Blog Archive Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)
BACKGROUND

Despite the ban on misleading descriptors such as light or mild cigarettes in Europe, there are still widespread misperceptions of the relative harmfulness of different brands of cigarettes among smokers. This study examined the extent to which smokers in three European countries believed that some cigarette brands are less harmful and why, using data from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Europe surveys.

METHODS

Cross sectional analyses were completed among nationally representative samples of 4,956 current smokers (aged 18) from Germany (n 1,515), France (n 1,735) and the United Kingdom (n 1,706) conducted between September 2006 and November 2007. Logistic regression models examined whether outcomes, including beliefs that some cigarettes could be less harmful than others, varied by socio demographic and country of residence.

FINDINGS

Around a quarter of smokers in the UK and France, and a third in Germany believed some cigarettes are less harmful than others. Overall, of smokers who falsely believed that some cigarettes are less harmful, 86.3% thought that tar/nicotine yields, 48.7% taste, and 40.4% terms on packs such as ‘smooth’ or ‘ultra’ indicated less harmful brands. About a fifth of smokers across all countries chose their brand based on health reasons, and a similar proportion gave tar yields as a reason for choosing brands.

CONCLUSIONS

Our research suggests that the current European Tobacco Products Directive is inadequate in eliminating misperceptions about the relative risk of brand descriptors on cigarettes. There is therefore an urgent need to protect smokers in Europe from these misperceptions via stronger measures such as plain packaging regulations.