Structure and rates of excise duty applied to tobacco and tobacco related products (recast)

Wording as published by the EP, in English.

1. Amendment 89Rejected

   Recital 3

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   (3) It is necessary to ensure that the Removed: Union’s Added: Union's fiscal legislation on tobacco and tobacco related products continues to ensure the … mind that tobacco and tobacco related products can cause serious harm to Removed: health , that Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan2 Added: health, that Europe's Beating Cancer Plan set the goal of reaching a tobacco-free Europe and that the Union is Party to the World Health Removed: Organization’s Added: Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Removed: Control . Added: Control. This health protection objective is particularly pressing as the European region has the highest prevalence of smoking globally1a and the Union is not on track to meet the targets it committed to in its Beating Cancer Plan. To achieve this twin objective the EU and the Member States should … tobacco trade, notably illicit imports of tobacco and related products from third Removed: countries3. Added: countries. In addition, excise duties resulting in higher retail prices are proven to have a meaningful impact on reducing consumption of tobacco products. Therefore, minimum excise rates should be set at a level to encourage the cessation of tobacco consumption and to prevent substitution amongst product types. New products (liquids for e-cigarettes, other manufactured tobacco, nicotine pouches and other nicotine products) Added: also have increasing popularity, especially among young people, Removed: and besides Added: frustrating the progress in achieving a tobacco-free Europe by 2040. Besides the intrinsic public health risk these products represent, Removed: they also have the potential of opening the way towards conventional smoking. Added: including as a gateway to conventional smoking and to dual use of both conventional and novel products, their rapid proliferation makes the ambitious recast of this Directive an urgent and once-in-a-generation opportunity to make tobacco and nicotine products less affordable, protect Europeans from addiction, and generate public revenue for health systems. 1a World Health Organisation, "WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000–2024 and projections 2025–2030", October 2025, https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240116276 2 Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, COM(2021) 44 final. 3 In the case …

2. Amendment 90Rejected

   Recital 3 a (new)

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   Added: (3a) The World Health Organization does not recommend the use of nicotine-containing products (liquids for e-cigarettes, other manufactured tobacco, nicotine pouches and other nicotine products) for smoking cessation and instead advocates for strengthening health systems to provide evidence-based cessation measures, including behavioural counselling and approved pharmacotherapies. Instead, these products, whether combustible or smokeless, pose a growing threat to cardiovascular health. While tobacco smoking continues to cause millions of deaths annually, the rapid uptake of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and synthetic nicotine pouches, particularly among the youth, risks reversing decades of progress in tobacco control. The precautionary principle therefore requires that all such products be subject to excise duties commensurate with their addictive properties and public health risks1a. 1a Münzel, T., Crea, F., Rajagopalan, S., & Lüscher, T. (2025). Nicotine and the cardiovascular system: Unmasking a global public health threat. European Heart Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf1010. and Chen, D. T.-H., Grigg, J., & Filippidis, F. T. (2024). European Respiratory Society statement on novel nicotine and tobacco products, their role in tobacco control and “harm reduction”. European Respiratory Journal, 63(2), 2301808. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.01808-2023.

3. Amendment 91Adopted

   Recital 4 a (new)

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   Added: (4a) The Union is a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Article 5.3 of that Convention requires that, in setting and implementing tobacco control policies, Parties act to protect those policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. The legislative process leading to this Directive, including any delegated and implementing measures adopted pursuant to it, should be conducted in full compliance with that obligation. The use of studies, data or projections produced by or on behalf of tobacco industry actors should be treated with particular caution and should not, in itself, constitute a basis for reducing the ambition of minimum excise duty rates or extending transitional periods.

4. Amendment 92Rejected

   Recital 15

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   … excise duty on cigarettes should include, in addition to a specific component Removed: calculated per unit of the product, Added: set at EUR 215 per 1000 cigarettes, a proportional component Removed: based on Added: set at 63 % of the retail selling price, inclusive of all taxes. The turnover tax on …

5. Amendment 93Rejected

   Recital 18

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   Removed: (18) A certain degree of convergence would help ensure a high level of … the price of tobacco and tobacco related products, which in turn influences Removed: consumers’ Added: consumers' consumption habits. Fraud and smuggling undermine tax induced price levels, in particular … and thus jeopardise the achievement of tobacco control and health protection objectives. Added: The risk of illicit trade should not be invoked to justify the reduction or limitation of minimum excise duty rates. Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that the primary drivers of illicit tobacco trade are weak enforcement capacity, organised crime, and gaps in customs cooperation rather than the level of taxation itself. The appropriate response to illicit trade is strengthened enforcement, enhanced cross-border cooperation between competent authorities, and investment in track-and-trace systems, not the suppression of legitimate public health taxation objectives. Member States and Union institutions should ensure that resources allocated to anti-smuggling measures are commensurate with the scale of the challenge, and that the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) and track-and-trace obligations under Directive 2014/40/EU are fully enforced.

6. Amendment 94Rejected

   Article 12 – paragraph 3 a (new)

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   Added: 3a. The newly adjusted minimum tax level shall not be lower than the minimum excise duty applicable in the Member State immediately prior to the rate adjustment pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3. Where the adjustment would result in a lower level, the minimum excise duty shall remain unchanged at its pre-adjustment level.

7. Amendment 95Rejected

   Article 12 – paragraph 4

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   … 16, Article 20(2) and Article 22(2) and adjusted in accordance with paragraphs Removed: 2 and 3 Added: 2, 3 and 3a of this Article from the first day of the year following the …

8. Amendment 96Rejected

   Article 12 – paragraph 4 a (new)

   Tabled by César Luena · S&D

   Added: 4a. The adjustment of minimum Union rates pursuant to this Article shall not be subject to any upper limit. Any cap on the periodic adjustment would risk reproducing the structural erosion of minimum rates that characterised the period of application of Directive 2011/64/EU, contrary to the public health and internal market objectives of this Directive.