The European Commission has, through a spokesperson, declined to confirm that it would propose changes to EU laws on nicotine this year, despite telling Rapporteur three weeks ago that they were sticking with plans to release them in December.
Rumours persist in Brussels that the proposal will be delayed until January at the earliest. Two sources close to the debate told Clearing the Air that the College of Commissioners was unlikely to debate the proposal at its session on 15th December, meaning it would be impossible to approve before the end of the year.
The proposal will need the College - the term used for the weekly meeting of all EU Commissioners - to approve it before it becomes official.
The latest planning document for College meetings, released Tuesday, did not list the TPD - or Tobacco Products Directive - as an item slated for approval before the end of the year.
Rapporteur and Table Media have both reported that the Directive has been stalled by the Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which is believed to have issued a negative opinion on the impact assessment that would need to accompany any proposal. Consumers and others have questioned the validity of this assessment, claiming the consultation it is based on was biased and invalid.
Questions over timing come as the Health Commissioner doubles down on his claims that novel products “pose the same risks [as] traditional products”, a claim that even his own DG SANTE have acknowledged is false.
“Várhelyi keeps showing he is unfit for the office he holds, repeating clear falsehoods no matter how many times he is corrected or challenged,” said Clive Bates, former head of UK tobacco control lobby Action on Smoking and Health and advisor to Tony Blair.
“The lives of around 100 million European nicotine users are being put in danger by his basic misunderstanding of risks and regulation, illicit markets, and how best to protect young people”.
“He is embarrassing the European Union and making a mockery of the principles of the internal market.”
“Várhelyi's so dense that we’re worried he might turn into a black hole,” said David Hanin, of French media outlet Je Suis Vapoteur. “it's pure insanity that anyone lets him spout this kind of nonsense, without any proof whatsoever”.
Arturo Ribes, of Spanish vape industry association UPEV, said he still thought the TPD proposal would come eventually despite its obvious shortcomings. “I don't think it's a block but a bump in the road”, he told Clearing the Air. “DG SANTE are being given clear indications that what they want to do isn’t sensible, but they seem determined to ignore that and they’ll probably get away with it in the end”.