Philip Morris International (PMI) said European Union plans to more strictly regulate tobacco products send a “worrying signal” on EU willingness to uphold intellectual property rights.

“The EU has ignored its own standards for proportionate, evidenced-based policymaking during the five years that the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has been under consideration”, said Drago Azinovic, PMI president for the EU Region.
“Measures in the TPD will further erode property rights that the EU Charter protects. This sends a worrying signal to other sectors of the economy that depend on legal certainty and a rigorous defense of intellectual property rights”, he said in a statement.
Black market can be expected to grow with adoption of the new TPD, Azinovic said. The proposal represents a blow to hundreds of thousands of tobacco industry employees and reduced tax revenue for EU member states, he said.