Mosley Urges EU to Delay Tobacco Ad Ban

Motor racing's world governing body pleaded with the European Parliament on Monday to change the date it plans to end tobacco advertising.

A new European Union (EU) law, if agreed by national governments, will spell the end of tobacco advertising in newspapers, on the radio and Internet as well as sponsorship by July 2005.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley told a public hearing on the draft law that there would be chaos if Europe introduced the ban at that time.

Mosley, speaking before the legal affairs committee of the parliament, said there was international acceptance of a ban on tobacco advertising from the end of 2006 - the date his organisation has endorsed.

"If, for example, a prohibition comes in at an early date we would cease to hold a Grand Prix in one country but would hold it in another. The pressure would be irresistible," Mosley said.

"It is absolutely essential that all countries make the same proposal at the same time. We want to get the air out of the mattress all at once," he said. "Please don't let us down, give us the same date for Europe as for the rest of the world.

"If you do that we will see an end to sponsorship on television. If you don't, we risk a messy period where it appears in some countries and not in others and the television pictures appear from some other part of the world," Mosley said.

Of the 300 million people that watch a Grand Prix, all but 100,000 see it on television. Mosley said it would take time and effort to find new sponsors in 122 countries.

The contract value of tobacco sponsorship for a Formula One race is 300-400 million euros and double that for motor sport world wide.

New Law

The draft law under debate is to replace a previous attempt to ban tobacco advertising -- agreed by the EU in 1998 - which was overturned in October 2000 by the European Court of Justice.

Following a complaint by Germany, the court found that the 1998 law interfered too much in local advertising media, such as posters and cinemas, which could be dealt with by national or local authorities rather than at EU level.

The new directive, proposed by the European Commission last May, avoids the legal pitfall by dropping cinema, poster and "indirect" advertising.

It focuses on cross-border media such as newspapers, radio, the Internet and sponsorship. Television advertising is already banned in the EU. Mosley asked the European Parliament to revert to the ban date of 2006 agreed in the original directive.

The hearing discussed the legal foundation of the new directive, especially its impact on competition and free trade.

Representatives from the German publishing industry told the committee the new law would curb freedom of the press and have a serious impact on the financial viability of German media companies.

Almost all EU countries have national curbs on tobacco advertising in some form. France, Italy, Portugal and Finland have complete bans and others have similar laws in the pipeline.