F E AT U R E
Advertising
in a
post-TPD
market
By Tom Pruen, Chief Scientific Officer at ECITA
The revised Tobacco Products Directive dedicates
a significant amount of text to the restriction, or
more accurately, prohibition of advertising
The Directive states:
5. Member States shall ensure that:
(a) commercial communications in
Information Society services, in the
press and other printed publications,
with the aim or direct or indirect effect
of promoting electronic cigarettes and
refill containers are prohibited, except for
publications that are intended exclusively
for professionals in the trade of electronic
cigarettes or refill containers and for
publications which are printed and
published in third countries, where those
publications are not principally intended
for the Union market;
(b) commercial communications on the
radio, with the aim or direct or indirect
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effect of promoting electronic cigarettes
and refill containers, are prohibited;
(c) any form of public or private
contribution to radio programmes with
the aim or direct or indirect effect of
promoting electronic cigarettes and refill
containers is prohibited;
(d) any form of public or private
contribution to any event, activity or
individual person with the aim or direct
or indirect effect of promoting electronic
cigarettes and refill containers and
involving or taking place in several
Member States or otherwise having
cross-border effects is prohibited;
(e) audiovisual commercial
communications to which Directive
2010/13/EU of the European Parliament
and of the Council ) applies, are
prohibited for electronic cigarettes and
refill containers
[The definition of audiovisual
communication in Directive 2010/13/EU
is, broadly, “the provision of programmes,
in order to inform, entertain or educate,
to the general public by electronic
communications networks” and explicitly
includes on demand services.
At the time of writing, the final UK
implementations of these aspects are
not fixed, but there is not much room
for manoeuvre left by the Directive text.
At a recent conference, Alette Addison,
the Department of Health’s Tobacco
Control Team Leader (EU), presented
the following interpretation: