By 2011 all cigarettes sold throughout the European Union will be only self-extinguishing “fire-safe” brands. The proposal was approved on 2007 by all Member States and it means that for all cigarettes there will be used fire-retardant paper. The objective is to cut down the number of fires caused by dropped cigarettes.

According to the commission spokesman Ton Van Lierop, the European Committee for Standardisation has been developing the norms to apply this decision, mandatory for the tabacco industry “by 2011 at the latest”. Such cigarettes are already on sale in Canada, Australia and parts of the United States, said Ton Van Lierop.

On his blog, Mr. Stavros Dima, Environment Commissioner, is expressing some thoughts regarding the results of Bali meeting. In some elegant words (a “qualified success”) he mentions the resistance of the USA, Japan and Russia to real emission cuts.

Well, it is not easy to negotiate with this three ‘poisoning’ giants, but in my opinion there are some more persuasive means to gain little battles.
What if the EU will ask the companies exporting on European markets that their products should bear a ‘green label’ -testifying that the production facilities do not have toxic emission over certain values? Something similar to the quality requirements, already in force. Yes, it is a delicate and maybe costly decision, but it is easier to negotiate directly with the producers, than with administrations and policy makers.