School of Management, University of Bath, BATH, BA2 6AN; Tobacco Control Research Group, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom; SPECTRUM Consortium, United Kingdom.
SPECTRUM Consortium, United Kingdom; Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), London, United Kingdom.
Int J Drug Policy. 2021 Jun;92:103044. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.103044. Epub 2020 Dec 2.
In January 2020 the UK left the European Union (EU), although a transition period extends EU rules/regulations until the end of 2020 while a longer-term relationship agreement is negotiated. After almost 50 years of membership the UK economy is tightly integrated into that of the EU single market, and many UK laws and regulations have their origins in the EU, including those concerning tobacco. This paper provides an overview of potential implications of Brexit for UK tobacco control. We examine the key areas of the supply, cost, taxation, and regulation of tobacco products, and the impact of commitments in regards to the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (NI). We find that Brexit provides an opportunity for improved tobacco control with potential for particular enhancements in the areas of taxation and product regulation. However, commitments in regards to NI mean these benefits either won't extend to NI (which will continue to follow EU rules), or could lead to the whole UK having to follow most EU rules/regulations despite no longer being involved in the decision making process. The details of any future deal will be important, especially since virtually all UK tobacco products come from the EU, and hence would be subject to disruption/considerable new tariffs (i.e. taxation on imports) without a trade deal. We conclude that political will by the UK government to secure conditions which protect the UK's world leading tobacco control measures will be key to whether Brexit helps or hinders tobacco control in the UK. In this regards the signs are mixed.
2020 年 1 月，英国退出欧盟（EU），尽管过渡期将欧盟规则/法规延长至 2020 年底，同时正在谈判更长期的关系协议。在英国加入欧盟近 50 年后，英国经济与欧盟单一市场紧密融合，许多英国法律和法规都源自欧盟，包括与烟草相关的法律和法规。本文概述了英国脱欧对英国烟草控制可能产生的影响。我们研究了烟草产品供应、成本、税收和监管的关键领域，以及爱尔兰和北爱尔兰（NI）之间边界问题的承诺所产生的影响。我们发现，英国脱欧为加强烟草控制提供了机会，在税收和产品监管方面可能会有特别的改进。然而，关于 NI 的承诺意味着这些好处要么不会扩展到 NI（NI 将继续遵循欧盟规则），要么可能导致整个英国即使不再参与决策过程，也必须遵循大多数欧盟规则/法规。未来任何协议的细节都很重要，尤其是因为几乎所有英国的烟草产品都来自欧盟，因此如果没有贸易协议，这些产品将面临中断/需要缴纳大量新关税（即对进口征收的税收）。我们的结论是，英国政府为保护英国世界领先的烟草控制措施而争取有利条件的政治意愿，将是英国脱欧是否有助于或阻碍英国烟草控制的关键。在这方面，迹象喜忧参半。
