Activites

• 1998/07/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 1998/43
  • OJ L 213 30.07.1998, p. 0009
• 1998/07/06 Final act signed
• 1998/07/06 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2109
• 1998/06/22 Council Meeting
• 1998/05/13 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0267/1998 summary

    After rejecting by 211 votes to 314 with 25 abstentions a proposal of intended rejection of the Council common position (tabled by the EPP Group and by Mrs Roth-Behrendt and 28 other signatories) and by 214 votes to 314 with 18 abstentions, an amendment seeking to modify the legal basis of the proposal, Parliament, following the opinion of its rapporteur, Mr Christian CABROL (UPE, F), approved the Council's common position seeking to prohibit throughout the Union all advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. The common position was thus approved without amendment. The Council was called on to adopt the act as soon as possible in accordance with the common position. �

• 1998/05/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    Stressing the relevance of using Article 100a as the legal basis, the rapporteur asked for the amendments aimed at changing this legal basis to be rejected. As for the rest of the common position, which took on board most of the amendments tabled by Parliament at first reading, Mr Cabrol said that this represented considerable progress in relation to the previous position and was therefore the best compromise possible, allowing all the necessary economic adjustments. It was, in any case, the result of nearly ten years of discussions. As a consequence, he was totally against the prospect of postponing this directive sine die and rejected en masse the amendments tabled by certain colleagues which, in his opinion, were pretexts aimed at making the whole procedure fail. Commissioner Flynn stated that the text of the common position reflected the spirit of the initial proposal. As for Article 100a, he pointed out that this had previously been used in the case of tar content labelling for cigarettes and to ban TV advertising and indirect advertising. Mr Flynn was also against subsidies being granted to tobacco production which caused so much suffering and so many deaths. For the same reason, any advertising of this product was unjustified. The Commission therefore agreed with the common position as adopted and accepted by the rapporteur.

• 1998/04/22 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0150/1998
• 1998/02/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2067
• 1998/02/12 Council Meeting
  • 12302/2/1997 summary

    In its common position on the proposal for a directive relating to the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products, the Council provides for a ban on all forms of advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products in the Community to be phased in under certain conditions. The spirit and structure of the Commission text has generally been maintained, apart from four basic changes: (1) Sponsorship: in line with Parliament's request, the common position explicitly bans all forms of sponsorship to promote tobacco products. (2) The specifications relating to indirect advertising (the use of trade marks, symbols or other distinctive features intended to promote tobacco products): while confirming the principle of a ban on all forms of advertising of tobacco products, the common position: - allows, under certain conditions, that a brand name already used in good faith both for tobacco products and for other goods or services traded prior to the date of publication of the directive, to be used for the advertising of those other goods or services, - provides that no tobacco product may bear the brand name, trade mark, emblem or etc. of any other product, unless the tobacco product has already been traded under that brand name before the date of transposition of the directive, - avoids any form of circumvention of the directive by banning advertising in respect of any product or service placed on the market as from the date of entry into force of the directive, by the use of brand names, trade marks etc. already used for a tobacco product, - bans the free distribution of tobacco products having the effect of promoting such products; (3) Exceptions to the ban on advertising (areas regulated at national level): these exceptions concern publications from third countries, communications between professionals in the tobacco trade and tobacco sales outlets (presentation of tobacco products offered for sale, indication of their prices etc.). (4) Particular conditions for implementation of certain provisions and monitoring of the directive: - the directive must be transposed into the laws of the Member States within three years of its publication in the Official Journal, - after this time, the Member States may delay for an additional year for advertising in the press and two years for sponsorship, - in exceptional cases and for duly justified reasons, Member States may continue to authorize the existing sponsorship of events or activities organized at world level for a further period of three years (in addition to the two years already mentioned), - all the provisions of the directive are applicable from 1 October 2006, - no later than three years after publication of the directive and subsequently every two years, the Commission is to draw up a report on the implementation and effects of the directive. Where appropriate, it shall submit proposals for new provisions to suit developments identified in the report. With regard to Parliament's amendments, apart from the amendment on sponsorship (not adopted by the Commission but adopted by the Council), the Council has included the substance of the amendment on advertising of products other than tobacco products marketed under the same brand name. It has also included Parliament's request for regular reports evaluating the directive. �

• #2056
• 1997/12/04 Council Meeting
• #1924
• 1996/05/14 Council Meeting
  • 1924 summary

    On the basis of certain viewpoints put forward by the presidency the Council had had a new exchange of views on the proposal for a directive. In the course of the debate one of the factors highlighted was the need to protect young people especially from the damaging effects of tobacco. Having failed to narrow the gap between the positions, the Council agreed that it would continue to work on this issue under the Irish Presidency.

• #1890
• 1995/11/30 Council Meeting
• #1823
• 1994/12/22 Council Meeting
  • 1823
• #1762
• 1994/06/02 Council Meeting
• 1993/12/02 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T3-0683/1993 summary

    The European Parliament noted that the procedure relating to the amended proposal for a Council Directive on tobacco advertising had not been included by the Commission in its proposal COM(93) 0570; however, it confirmed its vote of 11 February 1992 on the latter proposal and requested that it should be put before the European Parliament on the basis of Article 189b (codecision). �

• 1993/11/24 Committee report tabled for plenary confirming Parliament's position
  • A3-0365/1993
• 1993/11/24 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 1992/04/30 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1992)0196 summary

• 1992/02/11 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T3-0037/1992 summary

• 1992/01/16 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1991/11/28 Committee report tabled for plenary, reconsultation
  • A3-0348/1991
• 1991/11/28 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 1991/07/05 Formal reconsultation of Parliament
• 1991/06/06 Amended legislative proposal for reconsultation published
  • COM(1991)0111 summary

• 1990/04/19 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1990)0147 summary

    In its opinion of March 1990, the Parliament consulted under the cooperation procedure called for a total ban on advertising for tobacco products. As the Health Council failed to achieve a qualified majority in December 1990, the successive steps approach recommended by the Commission became inapplicable because of the tight time limits. Thus, this new modified proposal aims at a full harmonization of Member States' provisions on the advertising of tobacco products by the introduction of a ban on all tobacco advertising. The proposal would, however, permit advertising in establishments specialising in the sale of tobacco and with enclosed indoor premises for serving their customers. All indirect advertising for tobacco products would also be banned.�

• 1990/03/14 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T3-0097/1990 summary

    The Parliament called for a number of amendments to the Commission's text. In particular, Parliament called for : - Member States to be allowed to take stricter measures under certain conditions; - recognition to be given to the invaluable contribution which advertising makes to consumer information and choice and for a ban or limit on advertising to only be considered in exceptional circumstances; - the definition of 'advertising' to be modified so as to prevent the ban being circumvented; - automatic vending machines not to be included under the definition 'tobacco sales outlets'; - provisions to be set down governing a company's right to advertise under its brand or trademark products other than tobacco products; - consumer or anti-smoking organisations to be recognised as having a legitimate interest in taking action against tobacco products.�

• 1990/03/13 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1990/01/24 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A3-0030/1990
• 1989/07/27 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1989/04/18 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1989)0163 summary

    This proposal for a Council Directive concerns the advertising of tobacco products in the press and by means of bills and posters. Because of diverse national legislation on the matter, this Directive provides for partial harmonisation, and is based on the most advanced system of governing authorised advertising, namely the Irish one. Unambiguous warnings must appear on an alternating basis on a substantial area of the advertising space. For reasons of continuity and consistency, the warnings would be the same as those laid down in the proposed Council Directive on the labelling of tobacco products. It would also be aligned with the legislation in force or in preparation, maintaining the ban on indirect advertising and limiting the content of authorized advertising to only showing the tobacco products in question since the purpose is to avoid any association being made between smoking and professional or sexual advantage, the enjoyment of wide open spaces, fresh air, adventure and freedom. The proposal's annex contains a list of health warnings. Member States would have to prohibit all advertising for tobacco products in publications mainly intended for people under 18. Member States will have the right to introoduce stricter provisions than those contained in the Directive, as long as these do not imply modifications of the content or form of advertisements as provided for in this Directive.�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1989)0163
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A3-0030/1990
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T3-0097/1990
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1990)0147
• Amended legislative proposal for reconsultation published: COM(1991)0111
• Committee report tabled for plenary, reconsultation: A3-0348/1991
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T3-0037/1992
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1992)0196
• Committee report tabled for plenary confirming Parliament's position: A3-0365/1993
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T3-0683/1993
• Debate in Council: 1823
• Debate in Council: 1924
• Council position published: 12302/2/1997
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0150/1998
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0267/1998
• : Directive 1998/43
• : OJ L 213 30.07.1998, p. 0009

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)