Directive 2014/40/EU

Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of The Council of 3 April 2014 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products and repealing Directive 2001/37/EC

Overview of Directive 2014/40/EU

The Directive 2014/40/EU (EU 2014 (pdf)), also known as Tobacco Products Directive, has as its objective to approximate the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the EU Member States concerning several aspects of tobacco and related products. It entered into force on 19 May 2014 and became applicable in EU Member States on 20 May 2016.

Rules in the Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) refer to the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products, including cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigars, cigarillos, smokeless tobacco, nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes, and herbal products for smoking. A specific article defines these products based on their characteristics and modes of use.

The Directive requires EU Member States to legislate in relation to:

• Ingredients and emissions of tobacco products and reporting obligations like the maximum emission levels for tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide for cigarettes;
• Certain labelling and packaging aspects of tobacco products, like health warnings, traceability and security features;
• The prohibition of placing on the market tobacco for oral use;
• Cross-border distance sales of tobacco products
• The obligation to submit a notification of novel tobacco products;
• The placing on the market and labelling of certain products like electronic cigarettes, refill containers, and herbal products for smoking.

EU Member States legislation should in this way facilitate the smooth functioning of the internal market for tobacco and related products, taking as a base a high level of protection of human health, especially for young people, and to meet the obligations of the EU under the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control ( WHO FCTC 2003 (pdf)).

Directive 2014/40/EU sets the requirements for cigarette and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco packs to carry combined health warnings, consisting of a picture from the EU picture library (2014/109/EU), a text warning, and information on services that support quitting smoking and which cover 65% of the front and back of packs and 50% of the sides of packs. In the case of electronic cigarettes, only those which contain nicotine are covered by the Directive.