European Bulletin 11/01/99 (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

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!#  GLOBALink Tobacco - Weekly European News Bulletin
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                EUROPEAN BULLETIN - EU9901 11TH JANUARY 1999
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CONTENTS:

EUROPE

· EUROPE: Tobacco firms set to take on advertising ban.

EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

· FRANCE: French Government imposes 5 percent tax on tobacco.
· FRANCE: R.J. Reynolds France Former Directors Fined for Tobacco Ads.
· UK: Government deny support for Citizen Card.
· UK: Visual aid to quit smoking. 

INTERNATIONAL

· CANADA: Tobacco laws protecting youth take effect.
· INDIA: India sponsorship up in smoke. 
· NEPAL: Nepal To Ban Alcohol and Cigarette Ads.
· USA: Haven for smokers in a smoke-free city.
· USA: US lawmakers debate windfall.
· WORLD: Two-tone tobacco team clashes with F1 authorities.
· WORLD: BAT ends Subaru deal.

EUROPE

EUROPE: Tobacco firms set to take on advertising ban.

Four tobacco companies have been given the go-ahead to mount a legal
challenge against the European directive banning tobacco advertising and
sponsorship. A High Court judge has ruled that there is a question over the
legal validity of the directive which should be referred to the European
Court of Justice. The tobacco companies - Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco,
British American Tobacco and Rothmans (UK) - challenged the directive on six
grounds, each of which was found to be arguable by the court. Although the
UK courts do not have the power to overturn European legislation, they can
refer it back to the European Courts for clarification. The tobacco
manufacturers claim that the legal question mark hanging over the European
directive means that the Government should hold back from introducing
legislation until the matter is settled in the European Courts.

Source: CTN, 07/01/99

EUROPE - SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

FRANCE: French Government imposes 5 percent tax on tobacco.

Tobacco prices rose 5 percent on average in France, following the
implementation of a tax increase as part of the government’s 1999 budget.
The tax was passed through unevenly to consumers, as tobacco companies
sought to reduce the impact on their best-selling brands. Seita, the
privatised French cigarette manufacturer, increased prices of its Gauloises
and Royales brands by 4.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, while
Gitanes were raised by almost 10 percent.

Source: Financial Times, 05/01/99

FRANCE: R.J. Reynolds France Former Directors Fined for Tobacco Ads.

Two former directors at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco France, a unit of RJR Nabisco
Holdings Corp., were judged guilty of ‘‘complicity in illicit advertising in
favour of tobacco,’’ French daily Le Monde reported, without citing sources.
Klaus Langner and
Jacques Leclerc, former president and vice president, respectively, were fined
76,220 euros ($89,900), the paper said. The case stems from a civil suit
filed in August 1993 by the National Committee Against Smoking Addiction.
RJR, the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker, will likely sell its international
tobacco unit as early as the first quarter of this year, Salomon Smith
Barney Inc. analyst Martin Feldman said last month.

Source: Tobacco News Online, 05/01/99 (Note that the "National Committee
Against Smoking Addiction" is more commonly known as the CNCT (Conseil
national contre le tabagisme).

UK: Government deny support for Citizen Card.

The Publican Newspaper claims that the Government has denied reports that it
is actively supporting a new national ID card scheme. Several national
newspapers carried stories which suggested the new CitizenCard had won the
support of ministers who previously backed The Portman Group’s Prove-It card
scheme. CitizenCard is due to be launched in February. But a Government
spokeswoman said that although Home Office minister George Howarth had been
briefed on the new scheme and supported the general principles behind the
industry-led ID card, he had not pledged his active support or funding to
this specific project. ‘‘There is no government backing for the CitizenCard,
it is purely an industry initiative. It is important to have something like
this but there should not be a multitude of cards - it is just confusing for
the consumer and retailer,’’ she added.

Source: The Publican Newspaper, 11/01/99

UK: Visual aid to quit smoking.

Smokers who have made a new year’s resolution to quit are being invited to
try a new product in their campaign against addiction. Stop! Magazine is a
glossy magazine being backed by the Government and promises to help people
to kick the habit by the power of entertainment. Urged on by the success of
diet magazines, the Health Education Authority conducted research in 1996
and found that 35 percent of Britain’s 15 million smokers wanted to read a
magazine about giving up smoking. Nicola Willis, the Editor said that it
worked on the principle that if people were entertained they were more
likely to remember the information and remain motivated by it.

Source: The Times, 07/01/99

INTERNATIONAL

CANADA: Tobacco laws protecting youth take effect.

Changes to the Tobacco Sales Act intended to deter tobacco retailers from
selling to minors went into effect Monday. It is illegal in British Columbia to
sell tobacco products to youth under 19 years old. Retailers now face fines
of $2,500 - a fivefold increase - upon conviction on a first offence of
selling tobacco to minors. Convictions for subsequent offences will draw
fines of $5,000. Store owners selling tobacco to youth also face longer
suspensions of their tobacco-selling licences. The suspensions range from
six months to two years, depending on the number of convictions.

Also, anyone caught smoking in Victoria pubs, restaurants, casinos or
other public places could be forced to pay a fine. The no-smoking bylaw - one
of the toughest in Canada - went into effect on New Year's Day, but regional
health officials gave holiday smokers a few days for a last puff.

Source: Tobacco News Online, 05/01/99

INDIA: India sponsorship up in smoke.

An article in The Express notes that India’s cricket team could be breaking
New Zealand law by displaying Wills tobacco logos on their uniforms, a
government minister warned yesterday. New Zealand law bans all tobacco
product and brand advertising in public and in the media, only permitting
heavily controlled, point-of-sale displays. The Health Department had
written to point out the breach of regulations last month, as soon as the
logo was seen on television in a recent Test match. 

Source: The Express, 11/01/99

NEPAL: Nepal To Ban Alcohol and Cigarette Ads.

Nepal will soon ban all alcohol and tobacco advertisements on television and
radio, the communications minister said Monday. Jayaprakash Gupta said the
government had made the decision to ``reflect the wishes'' of the Nepalese
people. But he did not specify when the decision would come into effect. The
state-run television and radio stations and two other private radio stations
depend on alcohol and cigarette ads for half their revenue.

Source: Tobacco News Online, 05/01/99

USA: Haven for smokers in a smoke-free city.

New York City, a smoke free city, has a new bar that permits smoking. Circa
Tabac, since it opened just over a month ago, has been highly popular. On
sale at Circa Tabac are 120 different brands of cigarettes. Circa Tabac,
however has installed an advanced purification system to keep its air clean. 

Source: Daily Telegraph, 05/01/99

USA: US lawmakers debate windfall.

Lawmakers in New York are beginning to debate how to spend their biggest
windfall in recent years: tens of billions of dollars from tobacco
settlement deals reports the International Herald Tribune. While some
elected officials are calling for the money to be spent on health care
initiatives and anti-smoking campaigns, others are urging that it be used on
projects unrelated to tobacco, including new schools or jails, and even
sidewalk repair. Tobacco companies have already passed along the cost of the
settlement to smokers by raising prices.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 11/01/99

WORLD: BAT ends Subaru deal.
British American Tobacco has ended its sponsorship agreement with the subaru
team in the FIA World Rally Championship. BAT has decided to focus its
sponsorship budget on this year’s launch of its Formula 1 team, British
American Racing.

Source:  Marketing, 07/01/99

WORLD: Two-tone tobacco team clashes with F1 authorities.

Formula One’s newcomer, British American Racing (BAR), is prepared to fight
a ban on cars in the same team carrying different liveries (coloured
advertising on cars), in a move which has little to do with sport and
everything to do with the battle for the global tobacco market reports
Sunday Business. BAR was formed with massive investment from its main backer
British American Tobacco (BAT). The deal has gone to arbitration. ‘‘We
always intended to have two brands on the cars (Lucky Strike in Europe and
555 in Asia) because they are or biggest selling international brands, but
we did not anticipate it would get to this stage in our problems with the
authorities,’’ says Fiona Mollet, spokeswoman for BAT.

Source: Sunday Business, 10/01/99, The Guardian, 09/01/99, The Independent,
Daily Telegraph and The Times, 07/01/99

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