Another Reply

[Karma]

Many thanks for getting in touch.

I have been in contact with our group advisors regarding the Tobacco
Products Directive, specifically the sections relating to electronic
cigarettes, and have been informed that this is the start of what will
be quite a substantial process. The proposal has only recently been
published which means that the European Parliament has yet to appoint
the Rapporteurs for each of the committees involved or on a timescale.
The committee which will be responsible for this file will be the
Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee which,
unfortunately, Alyn is not a member of. This committee will go through
the proposal line by line, submitting specific amendments until they
reach a position where the text is agreed upon by the majority of MEPs
in that committee. Certain other committees in Parliament will be
asked for their opinion on the text and, once this is agreed upon, the
text will then be put to the full Parliament at a plenary session and,
if passed, this becomes the position of the European Parliament. This
then goes to the Council and, depending on whether they agree with the
Parliament's position or not, the text could be amended further and
sent back to Parliament again. As the European Institutions must
compromise on certain aspects of legislation, this means that the
final text is rarely the same as the proposed text.

As a result of this there is very little that
I or any other MEP can do to influence this directive at this stage. We
have
received a number of emails from constituents on this matter and will
bear the concerns in mind.

One of the main concerns that has been raised with us by constituents
is that the Commission is proposing to ban electronic cigarettes under
the new Directive. This is certainly not the case. Instead, the
proposal states:

"Extension of the scope of the Directive : Nicotine Containing
Products (e.g. electronic cigarettes) below a certain nicotine
threshold are allowed on the market, but must feature health warnings;
above this threshold such products are only allowed if authorised as
medicinal products, like nicotine replacement therapies. Herbal
cigarettes will have to carry health warnings" (Page 9 of proposal and
article 18 on page 39)

However, as I have said, this may be subject to amendments by the
committees involved and so may change.

I thank you for your interest.

Yours aye

Alyn Smith MEP

[Gordy]

quite a good informative response
just gotta see where this 'threshold' is to be decided

[lobeydosser]

Yup. I got that one too.

[lazydog]

I got one aswell but a bit different
Thank you for your email.

The Tobacco Products Directive (2001/37/EC) lays down rules governing the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products as well as various forms of smokeless tobacco. The Directive can be viewed here:
eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32001L0037:EN:HTML

As you refer to in your email, on 19th December 2012 the European Commission sent a proposal for a revised Directive to the Council (made up of Ministers of each EU Member State with responsibility for a given area) and the European Parliament. The Parliament and Council are jointly responsible for deciding on EU legislation in this area. The European Commission's press release following the announcement of its proposal can be read here:
europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1391_en.htm

The proposal will firstly come to the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee. I am not a member of ENVI, but my Liberal Democrat MEP colleague who is informs me that he is still examining the proposal and looking at the evidence to decide which amendments he's putting in. I have received other correspondence from members of my constituency regarding this issue. My colleague is aware of these and I am continuing to liaise with his office regarding this matter.

With regard to electronic cigarettes I acknowledge your opposition to the extension of the scope of the Directive and I am aware that electronic cigarettes can have a positive effect on people attempting to give up smoking as well as enjoyed by individuals seeking an alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. I am also aware that in 2010 the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the UK consulted on whether to bring all nicotine containing products with the exception of tobacco and tobacco products within the medicines licensing regime, but no conclusion has been made.

Please be assured that I will continue to monitor this situation and with Parliament only at the preparatory phase there is still plenty of time to raise any issues.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Bennion MEP

Office of Phillip Bennion MEP
6b Bolebridge Street
Tamworth
Staffordshire
B79 7PA

[samuelmunro]

I got the same reply from Alyn Smith, bit annoyed that it seems to be a pre written cookie cutter letter.

"which, unfortunately, Alyn is not a member of"

referring to himself in the 3rd person is an indication of this.

[Karma]

Indeed Samuel, the problem with this whole thing is that it's only us vapers that are interested

I do hope that we have shook them up a bit with all our correspondence, perhaps at some time in their busy schedules they'll look into the matter a bit more deply

[Sandra (aka Chillax)]

I hope they do Karma, it is still only the labour reply I have had, the same email they seem to be sending to most people, I have written back urging him to look at the links I sent and to please get back to me.

[Deleted]

I got one today that seems quite positive



Thank you for your email to Chris Davies MEP regarding Electronic Cigarettes and the proposed Tobacco Products Directive. Chris has asked me to reply to you.

Chris is greatly in favour of harm reduction as a principle, and it may be the case that e-cigarettes may succeed where so many other methods of quitting have failed.

Since we are right at the beginning of the process of legislation, Chris and his colleagues are still examining the Commission’s proposals and are yet to hear from “stakeholders” such as E-cigarette manufacturers, the NHS or the scientific advice. He is of course always pleased to hear from constituents, who can give a better idea of how the proposals would affect their lives. Many former smokers and soon-to-be-former smokers have also been in touch regarding how much E-cigs have helped them firstly cut down on cigarettes, and then gradually reduce the nicotine they have the addiction to.

Health-wise, something that may stop smokers from inhaling the tar and tobacco that is so damaging to the lungs is clearly a good thing, however there have been some concerns expressed regarding the lack of research into the long-term effects of vaping. Chris is not sure of what that scientific case consists of just yet, so is waiting to hear from the experts.

The other concern is regarding the different flavours of liquid – the implication from some has been that they would attract young people. Chris thinks there needs to be a distinction between those liquids that contain nicotine and those that do not firstly – regulating something with no drug in it would be rather silly. Regarding how attractive vaping and the different flavours are to kids, I think he wants to hear from the experts – certainly it could be argued that alcopops (the comparison that has been made) have acted in a similar way for alcohol, although clearly banning alcopops would never even be considered.

Chris does intend to consult colleagues and put down some amendments on these two issues in particular, so I hope we can update you on the plans more soon. The process will take a number of months however and has a lot of stages to go through before the final vote, so there is no need to panic just yet. The proposals may be quite different by the time they reach the final vote.

I hope this email has been informative. Do get in touch if there is anything else you would like clarifying.

Kind regards,

[Karma]

Now that sounds slightly better Storm

[Deleted]

We have got an up hill battle cause half of the bloody snobs couldn't care less about anything other than lining their own pockets , and they quote from experts that aren't vapers and don't have much of an idea on how much it means to millions across the globe let alone our poxy little island >

[Banky]

Yep I got that one as well.

[Karma]

Indeed Storm, but I bet none of them expected all this mail about e-cigs when they returned from their long Christmas break!

[Deleted]

Aye it's just a shame that some MP's / MEP's can't think for themselves and are towing the party line with C&P replies

[Banky]

The reply that Storm got seems a whole lot better than the ones I got, seems a positive response.

[Deleted]

Have posted this on another thread but I've had 4 identical replies now, so am considering phoning Labour MEP HQ tomorrow to speak to the campaigns officer ... would like to understand who in the party has crafted some of these cookie cutter responses ... be interesting to find out who the organ grinder actually is. The letter that annoys me most is the one which talks about 48mg ecigs. If this is what they believe to be the case then each one of them will be working under false information.