The European Union’s Parliament voted yesterday to reject the European Commission’s recommendations that EU member countries apply smoking restrictions to vaping and impose harsh new bans on public vaping and smoking.
The Commission released its “smoke-free environments” recommendations in September, and asked the Parliament and Council of the European Union to ratify them. The Commission—the EU’s executive arm—said in its document that the use of vapes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) poses risks of "significant respiratory and cardiovascular problems."
The recommendations would not have carried the force of law, but would have urged the 27 EU member states to adjust their laws to include vaping under existing smoking restrictions, and to adopt new laws limiting public vaping and smoking. The Council is likely to also vote on the recommendations at a meeting of national health ministers next week, but without parliamentary approval they cannot be officially adopted as EU recommendations. Individual countries are, however, free to adopt the Commission's recommended rules.
The recommendations include bans on vaping and smoking in:
The European Union’s Parliament voted yesterday to reject the European Commission’s recommendations that EU member countries apply smoking restrictions to vaping and impose harsh new bans on public vaping and smoking.
The Commission released its “smoke-free environments” recommendations in September, and asked the Parliament and Council of the European Union to ratify them. The Commission—the EU’s executive arm—said in its document that the use of vapes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) poses risks of "significant respiratory and cardiovascular problems."
The recommendations would not have carried the force of law, but would have urged the 27 EU member states to adjust their laws to include vaping under existing smoking restrictions, and to adopt new laws limiting public vaping and smoking. The Council is likely to also vote on the recommendations at a meeting of national health ministers next week, but without parliamentary approval they cannot be officially adopted as EU recommendations. Individual countries are, however, free to adopt the Commission's recommended rules.
The recommendations include bans on vaping and smoking in:
The vote, and the quarrels between the EU parties, sets up a showdown next year when the EU will debate and adopt a revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, the EU's foundational tobacco control law.