Brussels, February 10, 2014 Dear President Schulz, On 16 December 2013, the European Parliament and Council rejected

during the trilogue the classification of electronic cigarettes as medicinal products and agreed to regulate them within the framework of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). The co-legislators decided that a less harmful alternative to conventional tobacco must be available to European citizens and must meet strict quality and safety criteria. This agreement is the outcome of complex negotiations in which the Parliament decisively defended the rights and interests of European citizens, despite some compromises it had to accept. This once again proved the importance of the democratic legitimacy in European rule making. Although with a number of reservations, the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association (TVECA), also on behalf of the electronic cigarette national associations of the Czech Republic (KERK), Germany (VdeH), Greece (SEEHT), Italy (ANAFE), Netherlands (Esigbond), Poland (STEP) and Spain (ANCE), supported this agreement in their open letter of 20 January 2014 addressed to the Parliaments negotiating team and the Members of the ENVI and JURI Committees. Being the most representative voice of the European electronic cigarettes industry, we encouraged Parliament to adopt the text in its current form without amendments during the ENVI Committee vote on 22 January and subsequently at the Plenary; a request the ENVI committee thankfully followed by backing the agreement two weeks ago. We are aware this letter caused some controversy, especially among European consumer associations, but also within the electronic cigarettes industry itself. We have ourselves pointed to a number of problematic provisions in the inter-institutional agreement that may still negatively impact the European electronic cigarette industry. These provisions may undermine the competitiveness of the e-cigarettes vis--vis conventional tobacco if no harmonised implementation is ensured. However, we must take into consideration that any amendment at this stage would automatically lead to a second reading and would not only render null and void the achievements of the European Parliament; it will suspend the proposal till the end of the year or even later with an uncertain outcome. Even though the text in its current form poses challenges to our industry, we appreciate that compromise is necessary and reiterate our support for regulating electronic cigarettes within the framework of the TPD. We therefore strongly encourage you to facilitate the adoption of the ENVI text at the Plenary by rejecting any requests for a split and separate vote on art. 18. Once adopted, our joint efforts should be directed to ensure harmonised and consistent implementation of the Directive in the Member States to make sure European smokers have every opportunity to switch to a less harmful alternative to conventional tobacco if they wish to do so.

Yours sincerely, Ray Story CEO TVECA Dac Sprengel Spokesperson for EU Affairs, TVECA Chairman, Verband des eZigarettenhandels e.V. (VdeH)