烟草在线据RTE在线报道编译　　欧盟执行委员提出在卷烟包装上放置更大的健康警语，并完全禁止诸如薄荷等加香口味。

　　这个提议停止强迫所有卷烟以带有图片健康警语的平装出售，而澳大利亚从本月开始要求这样做。

　　但是欧盟各国政府如果选择这么做的话，将可以自由地坚持采取这样的包装。

　　拟议的规则，是为了防止青年人沾染吸烟的习惯，有可能激怒烟草公司，它们担心更严厉的包装规则将降低已经下降的欧洲销量，并为亚洲和非洲的增长市场树立一个令人担忧的先例。

　　据世界卫生组织的数据显示，在27个欧盟国家中，近年来卷烟销售急剧下降，约在33%左右，但是与全球其他任何地区相比，欧洲的吸烟者比例更高。

　　该委员会称，在欧洲，烟草是导致过早死亡的首要原因，每年夺去70万人的生命。

　　“该提议预测，应在烟草产品包装两面75%的面积上展示合并的警语(图片加上文字)，”来自欧盟委员会的立法草案显示。

　　该草案规定包括禁止“细长”卷烟和销售低于20支卷烟包装的计划。该草案维持现有对卷烟焦油、尼古丁和一氧化碳含量的最高限制，并维持目前欧盟在瑞典以外禁售鼻烟的禁令。

　　咨询公司毕马威于6月在烟草公司菲莫公司的报告中表示，去年，欧盟卷烟的销量共计5760亿支，比2007年的减少了1000多亿支。

　　生产日益向亚洲和非洲市场扩展，以弥补欧洲销售的下降，这些市场收入的增加，导致近年来诸如万宝路等卷烟品牌销售的大幅增加，使这些市场成为烟草公司收入增长的主要来源。

　　计划在12月19日周三公布的这些提案，必须得到欧盟各国政府和欧洲议会的共同批准才能成为法律，这个过程可能需要两年的时间。

　　“一旦这些提议公布，将会有很长的路要走，”帝国烟草的发言人西蒙·埃文斯说。“我们相信在未来的许多年中，欧盟将是我们业务可持续增长和发展的地方。”

Europe: EU Proposes Tougher Rules on Tobacco Packaging and Marketing

　　The European Union's executive Commission is to propose larger health warnings on cigarette packets and a total ban on flavourings such as menthol.

　　The proposals stop short of forcing all cigarettes to be sold in plain packets carrying graphic health warnings, as required in Australia from the start of this month.

　　But individual EU governments will be free to insist on such packaging if they choose to do so.

　　The proposed rules, which are aimed at preventing young people from taking up smoking, are likely to anger tobacco firms who fear tougher packaging rules will reduce already dwindling European sales and set a worrying precedent for growth markets in Asia and Africa.

　　Cigarette sales in the 27-nation EU bloc have fallen sharply in recent years but - at about 33% - Europe still has a higher proportion of smokers than any other region of the globe, according to data from the World Health Organization.

　　The Commission said tobacco was the number one cause of premature death in Europe claiming 700,000 lives every year.

　　"The proposal foresees that combined warnings (picture plus text) of 75% should be displayed on both sides of the packages of tobacco products," the draft legislation - from the European Commission - said.

　　The draft rules include plans to ban "slim" cigarettes and the sale of packets containing fewer than 20 cigarettes. They maintain existing maximum limits on the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide produced by cigarettes, and would keep the current EU sales ban on snus outside Sweden in place.

　　EU cigarette sales totalled 576 billion last year, a fall of more than 100 billion since 2007, consultants KPMG said in a report for tobacco company Philip Morris in June.

　　Manufactures have increasingly looked to developing Asian and African markets to compensate for falling European sales where rising incomes have led to a big increase in sales of cigarette brands such as Marlboro in recent years, making those markets a major source of revenue growth for tobacco firms.

　　Due be published on Wednesday, the proposals must be jointly approved by EU governments and the European Parliament before they can become law, a process that could take up to two years.

　　"There's going to be a long way to go once these proposals are published," said Simon Evans, a spokesman for Imperial Tobacco. "We are confident looking many years into the future that the EU will be an area where we can sustainably grow and develop our business." Enditem