Europe Trade Bloc OKs a Phased-In Ban of Tobacco Ads

Health ministers from Western Europe, where smoking is blamed for more than half a million deaths each year, overcame eight years of deadlock Thursday, agreeing to phase in a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship of sports and cultural events by tobacco companies.

An estimated 40% of adults in the 15 European Union member nations are smokers, and cigarettes retain a cachet and popularity on the Continent that they have largely lost in the United States.

“It’s gone on for far too long,” European Union Social Affairs Commissioner Padraig Flynn of Ireland told reporters before Thursday’s key meeting of the health ministers in Brussels.

Tobacco companies--stung by regulations that could curb their maneuvering in what has been a hugely lucrative market and one with increasing importance as the U.S. anti-smoking mood grows--immediately denounced the ban.

They termed it an assault on free speech and said it will not cut down on smoking. The Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers, which includes Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and British-American Tobacco, issued a statement vowing to “fight strenuously to protect the fundamental rights of its members to communicate directly with their adult consumers.”

After 12 hours of often tense and stressful negotiations in the Belgian capital, the ministers voted to eliminate all tobacco advertising in six years and all tobacco sponsorship of major arts and sports events, such as Formula One motor racing and tennis tournaments, within eight years, and in any case no later than October 2006.

Under the European ban, which goes much further than the U.S. ban on tobacco ads on television and radio in effect since the 1970s, most advertising, including on billboards, must cease within three years. Ads in media printed in Europe, including newspapers and magazines, must end within four years. Indirect advertising, such as apparel bearing the name of cigarette brands, would have to end within six years.

U.S. anti-smoking groups cheered the decision. “We’re extremely happy . . . [and] hopeful that it’s going to make a difference . . . in terms of European smoking rates,” said William Novelli, president of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington.

Although more sweeping, the European ban is not nearly as immediate as the advertising restrictions contained in the proposed U.S. tobacco deal announced June 20. Under the sweeping American agreement--negotiated among cigarette makers, state attorneys general and private anti-tobacco lawyers--tobacco billboards and sponsorship of sporting and cultural events would be banned almost right away, as would caps, shirts and other items carrying tobacco logos.

Print advertising would still be allowed but would be restricted to black and white in publications with significant teenage readership. Multibillion-dollar payments by tobacco companies would also fund stop-smoking programs and a huge anti-smoking ad campaign.

But the U.S. deal, which will not take effect unless ratified by Congress, comes with a catch: In exchange for money and marketing restrictions, cigarette makers would get immunity from future class actions and state lawsuits.

Within hours of the EU directive, critics of the U.S. tobacco deal were pointing to the action as proof that cigarette makers can be regulated without being granted legal protections.

“I think it’s a step forward,” said Stanton Glantz, a medical professor at UC-San Francisco and a leading anti-smoking activist. “It shows that you can get rid of cigarette advertising without giving the tobacco industry immunity for the liability they’ve incurred for killing” millions of people.

Tobacco companies contend that advertising does not cause people to take up smoking; health authorities maintain that advertising increases tobacco consumption, while boosting social acceptance of smoking.

The European agreement, officials said, would take force next year once approved by the European Parliament. It must be enacted into national legislation in each EU member state.

Eleven of 15 member states supported the ban, news reports said. Germany, which wanted countries to be free to set their own health policies, reportedly voted against it, as did Austria. Denmark and Spain abstained.

Almost all EU countries rank among the top 25 smoking nations, as measured by per capita consumption of cigarettes by people 15 and older. And economic dependency on tobacco may prove as hard to break as the smoking habit.

Britain has claimed that eliminating tobacco sponsorship for Formula One racing, where the names of cigarette brands are emblazoned on huge banners and on race cars, would cost it 50,000 jobs. Tennis, soccer and other sports with cross-border audiences also get large transfusions of cash in exchange for allowing prominent display of tobacco brand names.

The eight-year period is intended to give Formula One racing, yacht races, opera festivals and other activities underwritten by tobacco companies time to find alternative sponsors.

Dahlburg reported from Paris and Levin from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Shav Glick also contributed to this report.