London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The tobacco industry deployed "massive" third party lobbying to subvert revised European regulations on tobacco products, helped by regulatory reforms that seem to have made it easier for corporate interests to influence public health legislation, according to new research published in Tobacco Control.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Bath and University of Oxford explored the scale and nature of industry lobbying and assessed how recent regulatory reforms have affected corporations' ability to exert influence.

The 2014 Directive, which becomes national law next year, is a revised version of the 2001 Directive. It includes an increase in the size of graphic health warnings, a ban on certain flavourings, restrictions on the size and shape of cigarette packs, and regulation of e-cigarettes.

But it is weaker than the original proposals. The process for revision took over five years, and was beset by controversy, amid claims of tobacco industry interference and the forced resignation of the Health Commissioner John Dalli. The Directive has been described as "the most lobbied dossier in the history of EU institutions."

Study co-author Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "Our shocking findings reveal the uphill struggle faced by the European Commission's Directorate General for Health. Despite its protestations, the tobacco industry is incapable of behaving responsibly and those parts of the Commission concerned with trade and industry must recognise their responsibilities under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control not to engage with them."

The researchers analysed a wide range of documentary evidence, including 581 documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests; 28 leaked Philip Morris International papers, 17 transnational tobacco company documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (University of California); minutes, meeting reports and press releases from the European Commission, Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament; plus a variety of web content including media coverage and blogs. Interviews were also carried out with tobacco control experts and members of European Parliament.

The researchers took account of the impact of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which seeks to curb the influence of the tobacco industry on public health policy, and European regulatory reforms known as Smart Regulation, which aim to reduce red tape and boost business competitiveness.

The analysis revealed that industry lobbying tactics were deployed on a "massive"scale. Philip Morris International alone employed over 160 lobbyists, and described third party involvement as "key to success."

Numerous third parties lobbying for the tobacco industry position were identified. Fifty one had clear financial links with the tobacco industry.

Throughout the review process, tobacco industry access and influence were secured through the highest levels of political and legal power within the EU, with high profile former EU officials enabling this access.

There was repeated undisclosed contact between senior Commission officials and industry representatives, indicating that Article 5.3 is not being implemented in some parts of the Commission, despite it being a signatory to the FCTC since 2005.

As a result, two of the proposals that industry was most concerned about-plain packaging and point of sales display ban-were removed, and progress of the Directive was subject to repeated delays at every stage of the process.

The study confirmed previous research showing that the Smart Regulation agenda enables corporate interests to exert undue influence and therefore risks undermining European Union public health policy.

The researchers conclude that Smart Regulation tools must be reviewed to ensure they serve the public and not just corporate interests, uphold Article5.3, particularly in parts of the Commission not responsible for health and in the European Parliament, and fulfil the EU's broader commitment to transparent policy making.

Publication

• Silvy Peeters, Hélia Costa, David Stuckler, Martin McKee, Anna B Gilmore. The revision of the 2014 European tobacco products directive: an analysis of the tobacco industry's attempts to 'break the health silo'. Tobacco Control. DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051919