EFA has replied, in partnership with ENSP, to the European Commission public consultation on excise duties applied to manufactured tobacco. From our patients’ perspective, tobacco harms our health. Given that one proved option of reducing tobacco consumption is higher taxation, EFA agrees with ENSP analysis of the many tobacco products that could be better tracked, taxed and controlled to reduce their accessibility through purchasing price, especially when it comes to young people. Those tobacco products are the following:
Electronic cigarettes, which are not under the scope of the Directive 2011/64, and various Members States have introduced different tax regimes and refill containers, adopting different tax structures and rates.
Borderline tobacco products (or so-called borderline’ or ‘price-fighter’ cigarillos) placed on the market, and they are products with characteristics similar to cigarettes (e.g. dimension, filter, packaging, etc.), but are much cheaper than cigarettes, due to a lower tax rate, and therefore may be more attractive to consumers, especially to young.
Fine-cut tobacco, which constitutes a cheaper alternative to factory made cigarettes and the consumers’ choice could be influenced.
Waterpipe tobacco (or so-called shisha or hookah), which is taxed more heavily in relative to low tobacco proportion to the cigarettes tobacco content, and the high taxation could encourage illicit or informal trade.
Please find our full response to the consultation here.
More information about our work on tobacco and smoking can be found at our section.