Spanish vape consumers group ANESVAP has filed an official complaint against the EU Commission, claiming that Europe’s executive should have conducted an impact assessment before proposing a ban on vaping in outdoor public spaces.
‘[T]he Commission should have carried out an impact assessment as the Recommendation has “significant economic, environmental or social impacts”, ANESVAP argues in its submission to the EU Ombudsman, which determines whether an EU Institution has committed “maladministration”.
Europe’s “Smoke and Aerosol Free Environments” Recommendation was released by the Commission last month, fifteen years after a similar Recommendation to ban smoking in all indoor areas. It is currently being debated in the European Parliament.
ANESVAP also believes that the Commission did not have “timely and relevant” information about what it was proposing. The study cited by the Commission when it made the proposal only suggests that further research be undertaken on whether banning vapes in outdoor spaces would be beneficial.
This is now the second case against the European Commission’s tobacco control team pending before the EU Ombudsman.
The institutional watchdog has also opened an investigation into whether DG SANTE - which holds the pen on Europe’s policy towards safer nicotine products - breached guidelines on conflicts of interest when it hired an anti-vaping NGO to help it write future EU legislation on safer nicotine products.
And, as we revealed on Clearing the Air, SANTE has been lobbied by ENSP on tobacco control at the same time as helping it write new laws on safer nicotine products; and ENSP declared that its staff had not worked on tobacco issue for four years in order to win the lucrative contract in the first place.
