Υπόμνημα προς τον Γενικό Διευθυντή Επιχειρήσεων και Βιομηχανίας της Ευρωπαικής Επιτροπής κ. Ντάνιελ Καλέτζα Κρέσπο 20.10.2014

•  Εκτύπωση 
• Ηλεκτρονικό ταχυδρομείο

                                                                                                                                                                                                               Athens, Monday 20th of October 2014

TO:
Mr. Daniel Calleja Crespo
Director General
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry
CC:
Mr. Giuseppe Casella
Head of Unit
Unit C3 Notification of technical regulations
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry


Subject: Notification No: 2014/427/UK by the United Kingdom (The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Product Regulations).

Dear Sir,
The Federation of Attica and Piraeus Industries represents the industries located in the Attica and Piraeus areas and has been active since 1951. At the centre of our beliefs and pursuits lies the balanced relationship between promoting development policies and protecting important public goods, such as the protection of the environment or public health.
Following our previous letter to DG Enterprise regarding the Irish Bill introducing plain/standardised packaging for tobacco products, this letter of ours refers to the recent initiative of the government of the United Kingdom to implement this very same measure of on the packaging of tobacco products (notification number 2014/427/UK – Title: The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Product Regulations).
Beyond the obvious deviation of this particular legislative initiative on behalf of the UK government from the relevant provisions of the recently amended Directive for tobacco products, we felt it our duty to note that scientifically unsubstantiated regulatory policies such as these constitute an infringement of intellectual property rights and are clearly contrary to the relevant provisions of both community and international law, as well as to the policy of protecting and promoting intellectual property rights.
Our Federation unambiguously supports rational and substantiated measures for the protection from the effects of smoking on both a national and European level. This particular policy, however, is greatly troubling us, since this specific measure in the only country it has been implemented, which is Australia, has not brought about any of the anticipated benefits for public health.
We believe that if policies like this are adopted by the member-states of the European Union, it would render the EU one of the most hostile regulatory environments for entrepreneurship ignoring and endangering thousands of jobs, and operating at the expense of competition, innovation and property rights. 
Immediate consequences shall include a boost in illegal trade; significant loss in tax revenues for member-states; and the sentencing of millions of people, especially retailers and small family businesses, to unemployment.
With regard to Greece particularly, if the European Commission allows the UK or any other member-state planning respective policies to ignore the provisions of European legislation and the relevant international treaties, then that would create most adverse secondary repercussions and, specifically, will constitute a de facto obstacle for Greek exports of tobacco products to these member-states. 
We kindly request that you take into consideration our concerns on the matter in order to prevent the disruption of basic Principles within the context of your competence, upon which the European financial, economic and social growth framework is founded upon. 

                                                                    Best Regards,
 
                                                                   Dimitris Mathios
                                                                       President