Civil society concerns regarding current negotiations on the EU Tobacco Tax Directive
The letter, signed by organisations including the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) coalition, the European Cancer Organisation (ECO), the European Respiratory Society (ERS), the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL), the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), European Heart Network (EHN), United European Gastroenterology (UEG), International Diabetes Federation Europe (IDF) and the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), expresses serious concern that ongoing Council discussions risk significantly weakening one of the European Union’s most effective public health instruments.
The organisations warn that proposed reductions to minimum tax rates, weakened indexation mechanisms, and extended transition periods collectively undermine the Directive’s capacity to reduce tobacco and nicotine consumption, particularly among young people.
“The revised Tobacco Tax Directive is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make tobacco less affordable across the EU, protect a new generation from nicotine addiction, and save lives,” the organisations stated. “Current negotiations risk moving the Directive away from the level of ambition required to meet Europe’s public health objectives.”
The letter comes at a critical moment for tobacco control in Europe, a WHO region where around 24% of adults still smoke, and which continues to record the highest smoking prevalence of any other WHO region globally. At the same time, youth uptake of tobacco and emerging nicotine products continues to worryingly rise across Europe, with approximately 4 million adolescents aged 13–15 using tobacco products and 14.3% of European adolescents reporting to have used e-cigarettes.
Taxation remains one of the most effective tools to reduce tobacco use and prevent initiation, especially among younger populations who are particularly price sensitive. Hence, weakening minimum excise rates or delaying implementation risks making tobacco and nicotine products more affordable over time, directly undermining the EU’s ambition to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2040, as set out in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
In their joint appeal, the organisations call on the Cypriot Presidency and Member States to:
• Maintain minimum excise rates at the levels proposed by the European Commission, which already represented a significant compromise under a public health perspective;
• Preserve a strong and timely indexation mechanism to ensure tax levels retain their real value over time;
• Avoid excessive transition periods, particularly for product categories increasingly used by young people.
The organisations also warn against using illicit trade concerns to justify weaker measures, stressing that evidence consistently shows illicit trade is primarily driven by weak enforcement and governance failures rather than high taxation levels.
The organisations underscored the importance of grounding policymaking in independent, evidence-based analysis and called on negotiators to preserve the Commission proposal’s core provisions during the upcoming talks. “With more than 700,000 people dying every year in the EU from tobacco-related diseases, the consequences of weakening the Directive would be profound” they warned.
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