scholarly journals European adult smokers’ perceptions of the harmfulness of e-cigarettes relative to combustible cigarettes: cohort findings from the 2016 and 2018 EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii38-iii45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Gravely ◽  
Pete Driezen ◽  
Christina N Kyriakos ◽  
Mary E Thompson ◽  
James Balmford ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study presents perceptions of the harmfulness of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) relative to combustible cigarettes among smokers from six European Union (EU) countries, prior to the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and 2 years post-TPD. Methods Data were drawn from the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys, a cohort study of adult smokers (≥18 years) from Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain. Data were collected in 2016 (pre-TPD: N = 6011) and 2018 (post-TPD: N = 6027). Weighted generalized estimating equations were used to estimate perceptions of the harmfulness of e-cigarettes compared to combustible cigarettes (less harmful, equally harmful, more harmful or ‘don’t know’). Results In 2016, among respondents who were aware of e-cigarettes (72.2%), 28.6% reported that they perceived e-cigarettes to be less harmful than cigarettes (range 22.0% in Spain to 34.1% in Hungary). In 2018, 72.2% of respondents were aware of e-cigarettes, of whom 28.4% reported perceiving that e-cigarettes are less harmful. The majority of respondents perceived e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than cigarettes in both 2016 (58.5%) and 2018 (61.8%, P > 0.05). Overall, there were no significant changes in the perceptions that e-cigarettes are less, equally or more harmful than cigarettes, but ‘don’t know’ responses significantly decreased from 12.9% to 9.8% (P = 0.036). The only significant change within countries was a decrease in ‘don’t know’ responses in Spain (19.3–9.4%, P = .001). Conclusions The majority of respondents in these six EU countries perceived e-cigarettes to be equally or more harmful than combustible cigarettes.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii10-iii17
Author(s):  
Constantine I Vardavas ◽  
Christina N Kyriakos ◽  
Pete Driezen ◽  
Charis Girvalaki ◽  
Katerina Nikitara ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The emergence of new types of tobacco and tobacco-related products on the European Union (EU) market has precipitated the possibility for both poly-tobacco use and transitions between products. In the EU, the regulatory environment has shifted with the implementation of the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) in May 2016, which may influence consumer transitions between products. Methods The aim of this paper was to examine trends and transitions in tobacco products from 2016 to 2018 -before and after implementation of the TPD in the EU. Data come from Wave 1 (pre-TPD) and Wave 2 (post-TPD) of the EUREST-PLUS ITC Six European Country Survey, a cohort study of adults who at the time of recruitment were smokers from six EU countries- Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Spain. D (N = 3195). Bivariate and logistic regression analyses of weighted data was conducted using SAS-callable SUDAAN Results Overall, among those who smoked factory-made cigarettes (FM) only at Wave 1, 4.3% switched to roll-your-own tobacco (RYO) only. Among RYO only users at Wave 1, 17.0% switched to FM only, however compared to all other countries, respondents from Hungary had the highest percentage of FM only users at Wave 1 switch to RYO only at Wave 2 (18.0%). Conclusions The most prominent transition overall was from smoking RYO exclusively at Wave 1 to smoking FM tobacco exclusively at Wave 2, however this varied across countries. As the tobacco control regulatory environment of the EU develops, it is important to continue to monitor transitions between types of products, as well as trends in cessation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
A. V. Kuznetsov

The article examines the norms of international law and the legislation of the EU countries. The list of main provisions of constitutional and legal restrictions in the European Union countries is presented. The application of the norms is described Human rights conventions. The principle of implementing legal acts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered. A comparative analysis of legal restrictive measures in the States of the European Union is carried out.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1570
Author(s):  
Tomasz Rokicki ◽  
Aleksandra Perkowska ◽  
Bogdan Klepacki ◽  
Piotr Bórawski ◽  
Aneta Bełdycka-Bórawska ◽  
...  

The paper’s main purpose was to identify and present the current situation and changes in energy consumption in agriculture in the European Union (EU) countries. The specific objectives were the determination of the degree of concentration of energy consumption in agriculture in the EU countries, showing the directions of their changes, types of energy used, and changes in this respect, establishing the correlation between energy consumption and changes in the economic and agricultural situation in the EU countries. All member states of the European Union were deliberately selected for research on 31 December 2018 (28 countries). The research period covered the years 2005–2018. The sources of materials were the literature on the subject, and data from Eurostat. Descriptive, tabular, and graphical methods were used to analyze and present materials, dynamics indicators with a stable base, Gini concentration coefficient, concentration analysis using the Lorenz curve, coefficient of variation, Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. A high concentration of energy consumption in agriculture was found in several EU countries, the largest in countries with the largest agricultural sector, i.e., France and Poland. There were practically no changes in the concentration level. Only in the case of renewable energy, a gradual decrease in concentration was visible. More and more countries developed technologies that allow the use of this type of energy. However, the EU countries differed in terms of the structure of the energy sources used. The majority of the basis was liquid fuels, while stable and gaseous fuels were abandoned in favor of electricity and renewable sources—according to which, in the EU countries, the research hypothesis was confirmed: a gradual diversification of energy sources used in agriculture, with a systematic increase in the importance of renewable energy sources. The second research hypothesis was also confirmed, according to which the increase in the consumption of renewable energy in agriculture is closely related to the economy’s parameters. The use of renewable energy is necessary and results from concern for the natural environment. Therefore, economic factors may have a smaller impact.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 251-257
Author(s):  
Anzhelika L. Gendon ◽  
◽  
Galina F. Golubeva ◽  

The article examines the financial support (not tax) of the economy in the EU countries due to the pandemic. A comprehensive vision of the situation and strategic planning are the foundation of the Euro-pean Union's economic policy. These qualities help to develop comprehensive measures to stabilize the labor market and entrepreneurship in the countries of the European Union in the context of a global emergency. A positive factor is also the fact that in an epidemic situation, political decisions of various states are aimed at introducing socially oriented measures that support their citizens.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-628
Author(s):  
Katharina Ó Cathaoir

C-547/14 Philip Morris Brands SARL and Others v Secretary of State for Health [2016] (not yet reported)C-477/14 Pillbox 38 (UK) Ltd v Secretary of State for Health [2016] (not yet reported)C-358/14 Poland v. Parliament and Council [2016] (not yet reported)Article 114 TFEU provides an adequate legal basis for the adoption of the Tobacco Products Directive 2014 in full, including measures relating to flavoured tobacco, labelling and packaging, and electronic cigarettes. These measures also comply with the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity, legal certainty, equal treatment and free competition, and the rights of companies under the EU Charter. Member States may introduce further requirements in relation to packaging of tobacco products that are not harmonised by the Directive.


Author(s):  
Maryla Bieniek-Majka ◽  
Marta Guth

The aim of this study is to determine changes in the structure of horticultural farms in EU countries in the years 2007-2017 and their incomes and determine the share of subsidies of the Common Agricultural Policy in the income of horticultural farms in studied groups. Horticultural farms from the European Union Farm Accountancy Data Network (EUFADN) of all EU countries were surveyed. A dynamic analysis of the structure of farm numbers in particular groups of economic size (ES6) was carried out, and then the average change in income and the share of subsidies in income within these groups in 2007 and 2017 were presented. As a result of the conducted research, changes in the number of horticultural farms in various groups of economic size were taken into account and the assumptions concerning the decreasing scale of fragmentation of horticultural farms were confirmed by a decrease in the number of the economically weakest groups and an increase in the number of medium and large farms. It was noted that, in the studied groups, the strongest income growths concerned farms with medium or high economic strength, which may mean that income had a significant impact on the process. Moreover, it results from the conducted research that existing institutional solutions additionally supported the tendency to reduce the scale of fragmentation of horticultural farms in the EU-12 due to the fact that the shares of subsidies were higher in groups with higher economic strength.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 581
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Dębkowska ◽  
Łukasz Dymek ◽  
Krzysztof Kutwa ◽  
Dariusz Perło ◽  
Dorota Perło ◽  
...  

The aim of this article was to assess the efficiency of the utilization of public funds for climate neutrality. It was concluded that the data gathered in public statistics are not adapted to current challenges and hinder the direct measurement of climate policy objective implementation progress. Due to that, an innovative approach to public intervention efficiency analysis was proposed for the sake of decreasing CO2 emission in 27 European Union (EU) countries, based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and soft modeling. Statistical data are derived from the Eurostat database and pertain to the years 2005–2019. It was demonstrated that activity efficiency of the particular EU countries on climate neutrality varied and that together with the increase in public funds spent on environmental protection, the growth of effects in the field of reaching climate neutrality objectives was not observed. The greatest positive impact on achieving climate neutrality objectives was revealed for activities connected with building renewable sources of energy (RES) and there was no correlation detected for expenditures connected with transport infrastructure, which means that public funds used for their construction did not influence climate neutrality. It was established that, in the analyzed period, the decisions on allocating public funds were not taken on the basis of the expected amount of reduction in relation to the volume of outlays. In order to track the reasons for detected inefficiency, 52 projects were analyzed within the case study, which covered 3738 investments in the replacement of heating sources in one region of Poland. It was revealed that the efficiency of those investments varies; however, due to the full availability of data of the acquired results and outlays devoted to them, a synthetic index of efficiency measurement was established that presents the amount of CO2 reduction for EUR 1. When comparing the analyses carried out on macro and micro scales, it was observed that on the scale of the EU, there is a lack of uniform measurements or benchmarks of projects in the field of CO2 emissions reduction. Meanwhile, from the whole EU’s perspective, it should be reasonable to undertake projects with the highest economic efficiency, irrespective of political and geographical aspects. The results obtained should be utilized by decision-makers to elaborate reference methodologies and good practices in order to successfully implement climate objectives and especially the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). What should be established are universal, on the EU scale, measurements and rules for gathering and counting data as well as benchmarks for the particular project types.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Barbara Pavlíková

Abstract The contribution deals with the Slovak and the EU legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. Its primary purpose is to point out the Slovak and European legal acts which constitute the main regulatory instruments in this field using the method of analysis and synthesis. Rules of production, distribution and conditions of use of tobacco and products thereof are in the Slovak Republic contained mainly in two acts - the Act No 335/2011 Coll. on Tobacco Products and the Act No 377/2004 Coll. on the Protection of Non-smokers, as well as in special Decree No 212/2012 Coll., regulating tobacco products. Regulation of excise duty on tobacco products can be found in the Act with the same name - Act No 106/2004 Coll.. Another objective of the paper is also to draw attention to the amendment of Act on Protection of Non-smokers which entered into force on 1 July 2013. The European Union struggles with the negative consequences of smoking at the supranacional level and its institutions - the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU - are already for several years adopting legal acts to facilitate uniformity and easier interpretation of European law also in the field of legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. The predominant part of the existing legislation deals with the approximation of laws in areas that are closely related to the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, but also to the collection of taxes from these products.


Equilibrium ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-642
Author(s):  
Agata Szymańska

Research background: The latest economic and financial crisis has seriously injured European Union Member States, affecting the condition of their public finances. In the face of the crisis, the EU made a special effort to increase the effectiveness of national fiscal frameworks, e.g. by improving the compliance with legislation. The post 2009 reforms were aimed at providing a solid economic foundation for the national fiscal frameworks, especially in the high-debt euro area countries. Purpose of the article: The goal of this research is twofold. Firstly, it aims to provide an outline of the national fiscal governance in the EU. Secondly, the paper analyzes the changes in the core measures of fiscal governance in the EU between the crisis period and the year 2016 (due to the latest available data) and investigates the similarities in the progress made by the 28 EU countries in restoring balance in public finance. Methods: To achieve the goal, the literature review and the analysis of core elements of national fiscal frameworks are provided. In the empirical section the grouping method for all 28 EU countries based on the Ward's agglomerative hierarchical clustering method is employed. The study uses data derived from the AMECO database (in the case of fiscal data) and the European Commission thematic data for quality indexes of particular elements of fiscal governance (numerical fiscal rules, medium-term budgetary frameworks and independent fiscal institutions). Findings & Value added: This paper contributes to the literature by, on the one hand, attempting to analyze changes in main fiscal governance measures and, on the other hand, by assessing their link with public finance through employment of the agglomerative clustering method. Based on the results, the conclusion about the importance of the improvement in fiscal frameworks is provided. The analysis shows that countries with better national fiscal framework achieved better results in public finances regardless the macroeconomic conditions.


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