EU cracks down on smoking - Oman Daily Observer

BRUSSELS — The European Union plans to ban menthol cigarettes and force tobacco firms to print large health warnings covering 75 per cent of packets in proposals released yesterday, the first for more than a decade.
The proposed new rules on labelling, ingredients and smokeless products, fall short of demands by some health campaigners for a total ban on company branding and logos on packets, along the lines of measures enforced this month in Australia.
But "member states remain free to introduce plain packaging in duly justified cases," a European Commission statement said.
"Tobacco kills half of its users and is highly addictive," said Health Commissioner Tonio Borg. "With 70 per cent of smokers starting before the age of 18, the ambition of today's proposal is to make tobacco products and smoking less attractive and thus discourage tobacco initiation among young people."