ITMAC - Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Advisory Committee

Lobbying Organisation ITMAC - Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Advisory Committee

Date published 19 Jan, 2017

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Health

Period 1 Sep, 2016 to 31 Dec, 2016

Specific Details Part 5 of the Miscellaneous Health Provisions Bill 2016 - standardised packaging

Intended results A letter was sent via email to Deputy Harty in his role as Chair of the Health Committee. This letter sought clarification as to whether the Standardised Packaging legislation was taking into consideration the future EU level Trace and Trace Legislation. A copy of this letter was then forwarded to Minister of State for Health, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy TD as was had not received the clarification. The 2016 Bill does not deal with the requirements set out at Regulations 20 and 21 of the European Union (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products) Regulations 2016 (the “2016 Regulations”), that the packaging contain a unique identifier and a security feature. If the 2015 Act is not amended, in situations where the inclusion of the unique identifier and security feature are legal requirements under the 2016 Regulations, there would be a clear conflict between what is required under the 2016 Regulations and what is prohibited by the 2015 Act. It is suggested that one of the ways this could be dealt with would be to amend Section 7(3) of the 2015 Act (which the 2016 Bill proposes to amend) to also permit “a unique identifier” and “a security feature” (defined in accordance with the 2016 Regulations) and “any other items provided for by law”.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Joan Mulvihill, ITMAC Director

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (2-5)

We sent a letter via email to the Chair of the Health Committee, the Clerk of the Committee and then forwarded a copy of this correspondence to the Minister of State for Health

Email (2-5)

We sent a letter via email to the Chair of the Health Committee, the Clerk of the Committee and then forwarded a copy of this correspondence to the Minister of State for Health.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Michael Harty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy Minister of State (Department of Health)