Mr. Michiel Reerink:

Thank you very much, Deputy. To sum up our position today, I hope we have succeeded in explaining why we are concerned about a measure which will not impact on smoking rates and will not prevent children from starting smoking but will have unintended consequences in terms of fuelling the illicit trade in tobacco. The proposed measure will not affect smoking rates, but it will affect our ability to compete. Our objective is to maintain and grow our market shares, but this measure takes away our last branding opportunity. I remind members that the European directive will double the size of the health warning on the front of packets and increase the warning on the back by 50%. In other words, two thirds of both the front and back of packets will be given over to the warning, in large letters, that "Smoking kills". The remaining 35% of the pack is the only space available to us to indicate to consumers what brand they are choosing. That is what we are about here. We are not opposed to the measure because we are worried it will have an effect on smoking rates. On the contrary, we are sure it will not have an effect on rates and will not prevent children from starting to smoke. There are much better and proportionate ways of achieving that objective, as we have outlined today. We ask the committee to give serious consideration to those suggestions instead of introducing plain packaging in the belief that it will deter children from smoking.