DE: German Opposition Grows

The decision by the EU to introduce a Directive to phase out tobacco advertising and sponsorship by 2006 against objections from Germany and Austria – has so angered the German cigarette industry that it plans to take legal action against the ban, even if the German government does not. According to Ludger Staby, chief executive of German cigarette maker Reemtsma, “an advertising ban in a market economy is a regulatory crime.” The German Health Minister, Horst Seehofer, said he favoured voluntary national agreements to fight the threat to public health posed by smoking. Staby said his group would wait to see whether the guidelines passed the European Parliament, and then whether Seehofer took legal action. The European Magazine Publishers Federation has also registered its strong determination to “fight this unfair measure all the way,” while Germany’s cinema industry has said the ban on tobacco advertising could close 25 per cent of German cinemas. The new Directive – supported by 11 out of the 15 EU members: Germany and Austria voted against, while Denmark and Spain abstained – stipulates the following:

• cinema and outdoor advertising will be banned three years after the measure is adopted and becomes law, which without a successful legal challenge, is expected to be either late 1998 or early 1999
• newspaper advertising would end one year after that
• most sponsorship would cease one year later
• sponsorship of so-called “world events” (such as Formula One motor racing) would be allowed to continue for another three years
• all tobacco advertising and sponsorship will disappear by October 2006

The Belgian parliament has already passed a law which bans all tobacco sponsorship and advertising from 1 January 1999.