EU Wants First Tobacco-Free Generation by 2030

The European Commission this week decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled “Call to achieve a tobacco-free environment and the first European tobacco-free generation by 2030.”

The organizers of the initiative call on the Commission to “propose legislation to save new generations from falling into tobacco addiction, to act against related environmental dangers and against smoking,” according to a release.

The group asks the Commission to propose legislation to end the sale of tobacco and nicotine products to citizens born in 2010 onwards.

The initiative also calls on specific measures to achieve vaping and tobacco-free and cigarette butt-free beaches and riverbanks, create a European network of tobacco and cigarette butt-free national parks, to extend outdoor non-vaping spaces, and to eliminate advertising.

As this European Citizens’ Initiative fulfils the formal conditions, the Commission considers that it is legally admissible. The Commission has not analyzed the substance of the proposal at this stage, the Commission states.

The organizers now have six months to open the signature collection. If a European Citizens’ Initiative receives 1 million statements of support within 1 year, from at least seven different Member States, the Commission will have to react.

The Commission could decide to take the request forward or not, and will be required to explain its reasoning.