February 5th, 2014

Tobacco directive – surgery needed to remove harmful e-cigarette text

Procedural position. The difficult situation with the Tobacco Products Directive is summarised very well by Martin Callanan MEP – here. The only way to reverse some of the absurd, impractical and excessive regulation of e-cigarettes now built into the Tobacco Products Directive is to have the MEPs vote for/against individual parts of the directive, in what are called ‘split and separate votes’ in which Article 18 or some part of it can be voted down so it can be done again, properly. It seems that even at ‘first reading’, it is not possible to amend this text because it has been blessed by the ENVI committee. We know with reasonable confidence that the various weird restrictions, prohibitions and burdens will diminish the appeal of e-cigarettes and protect cigarettes, while doing almost nothing for health. If it is not possible to treat the harmful text with sensible amendments, then surgery is required to remove it. And the time to press for that is now…

Write a letter… soon! This won’t be easy, not least because the decision on whether to allow split or separate votes rests with one man, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz MEP. But if you feel strongly about this, then you should be relentless in pressing for the right measures to the very end – this is what tells politicians you are serious. So I have written to Mr Schulz and the political group leaders, and I hope you will too… soon! My letter is below, but as always: you are free to draw on this, but please use you own words and experience; keep it polite and constructive – I want good regulation not no regulation; avoid expounding conspiracy theories; and assume the people you are writing to will read it in good faith and are willing to be persuaded. I’ve written to Martin Schulz and the leaders of the main political groups: click this link to send an e-mail to the President, CC: Political Group Leaders and also to my MEPs via via writetothem.com (UK only). And don’t forget Twitter: @MartinSchulz.



Timing update. Latest rumours are that they are running towards first reading (= last reading) in Strasbourg 24-27 February (not yet definite, previous assumption was 10-13 March). This means key decisions will be taken in the group week before, and possibly the decision on split vote taken before that – ie. very soon.

_________________ TEXT OF LETTER __________________

Covering note to copy to my MEPs.