On the 6th of November, EFA Senior EU Policy Advisor Roberta Savli participated in a meeting with the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (SG SANTE) and several other non-profit organisations active in the field of tobacco control in the European Union.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implementation of the tobacco products directive. The directive was adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in April 2014 and it will have to be transposed by May 2016 into the national legislations of the 28 EU Member States.
Another tobacco control success this month, with France becoming the 3rd country in Europe (after Ireland and the UK) to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. The law is aimed to cut the number of smokers: in France, where more than 70,000 people die each year from tobacco-related illnesses.
We will continue to keep you up-to-date with any developments in the area of tobacco control.