Brussels: European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho has opened an inquiry into how the European Commission's trade department (DG TRADE) handles interactions with tobacco lobbyists.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the inquiry follows a complaint from a civil society organisation that specialises in combating tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. The organisation claims, based on information obtained through requests for public access to documents, that DG TRADE has engaged in frequent, unnecessary, and opaque interactions with the tobacco industry. These interactions are alleged to risk undermining tobacco control efforts and public health policies, particularly in non-EU countries, especially those that are low- and middle-income.
The complainant argues that such interactions violate the EU's obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). As a signatory to the FCTC, the EU is required to limit its interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure those interactions are transparent.
As an initial step in the inquiry, the Ombudswoman has requested to inspect various Commission documents related to its interactions with the tobacco industry. In 2023, the Ombudsman Office found maladministration in the Commission's failure to ensure transparency across all its departments regarding meetings with tobacco lobbyists. It also highlighted the Commission's failure to systematically assess the necessity of such meetings.
Following the finding of maladministration, the Commission conducted a risk assessment of its departments' exposure to tobacco industry lobbying. It subsequently adopted a series of measures to better manage tobacco lobbying and indicated that its departments should now have a clearer understanding of how to comply with applicable rules.