A revised Tobacco Products Directive – which was at the heart of the forced resignation of former Health Commissioner John Dalli – was adopted today by the European Commission, and announced by new Commissioner Tonio Borg.

Mr Dalli resigned over a lobbying scandal, amid claims that his associate Silvio Zammit offered to use his contacts to lift an EU ban on snus, a form of snuff tobacco native to Sweden. Snus remains illegal under the proposed directive, although the concession allowing it to be sold in Sweden remains.

The existing directive dates back to 2001, and the new one seeks to address any developments which occurred since then while aiming to reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths in the EU, which amount to around 700,000 a year.

Tobacco products, Dr Borg explained, “should look and taste like tobacco” to ensure that they are less attractive to those most likely to take up smoking – the young.

While snus is banned, no other form oral and nasal tobacco has been made illegal. But taste – of cigarettes as well as of smokeless tobacco products – is strongly regulated, with a ban on what are called “characterising flavours.” Additives which exert flavours strong enough to mask the harsh taste of tobacco are banned, although milder ones may be retained.

As for the look of tobacco products, Dr Borg argued that they should not look like “a candy or a cosmetic product.”

The directive makes pictorial warnings – already introduced in Malta – mandatory, and would have to take up 75% of the front and back of the package. Slim cigarettes, deemed to be more attractive to certain segments, are also banned.

The current information on tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide will be replaced by an information message stating that tobacco smoke contains more than 70 carcinogenic substances. Dr Borg explained that the former was misleading, since it gave the impression that certain cigarettes were less harmful on the basis of incomplete information.

The possibility of mandating plain packaging for tobacco products had been mentioned in the run-up to the directive’s adoption, but it failed to make the cut, although member states are free to mandate it in their territory. Dr Borg stressed, nevertheless, that what had been presented at his desk on his first day in office had not been made harsher or softer, and that all proposals were retained.

The directive’s scope is extended to include electronic cigarettes and herbal cigarettes, which will have to carry health warnings. E-cigarettes which exceed a certain nicotine threshold will only be allowed if authorised as medicinal products, such as nicotine replacement therapies.

The directive also seeks to further regulate cross-border distance sales, to ensure that products are not sold to minors, and proposes the setting up of a tracking and tracing system to combat illicit trade.

Dr Borg noted that in his hearing at the European Parliament, he pledged to present the directive by the end of January, and was pleased to note that he was six weeks ahead of schedule.

The directive will still need to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council – which may themselves alter its provisions along the way – and Dr Borg augured that it should become EU law before the 2014 European elections. It would then come into effect in 2015-16.