The 2017 Nanny State Index
Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at theInstitute of Economic Affairs, author of the NSI

Introduction

The Nanny State Index is a league table of the worst places in the European Union to eat, drink, smoke and vape. Each country is given a score according to the scale of its regulation of alcohol, e-cigarettes, food and tobacco.

There is no change at the top, with Finland enjoying a seemingly impregnable lead as the EU’s number one nanny state thanks to draconian restrictions in all four product categories, but the UK and Ireland are not far behind, saved only by their more liberal approach to vaping. The best performing countries are those which have relatively low taxes on these products and a tolerant attitude to smokers, drinkers and vapers.

Any significant change compared to the 2016 Nanny State Index edition?

Since the first edition of the Index was published in March 2016, there have been many changes, mostly for the worse, and all but six of the 28 countries studied have a higher score than they did last year. Vapers have been particularly badly hit. When we compiled last year’s index, only one country taxed e-cigarette fluid. That number has now risen to six and seems likely to rise further as governments scramble for money to offset falling tobacco revenues. The number of countries that ban the use of e-cigarettes indoors has risen to eleven. And thanks to a new EU directive, a wide range of vaping products are now illegal, along with most e-cigarette advertising.

The most significant change that took place in 2016 was the introduction of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) which came into effect in May. This legislation is principally aimed at smokers, with a ban on packs of ten, mandatory graphic warnings and, from 2020, a ban on menthol cigarettes, but it also places a significant burden on vapers. The TPD bans all e-cigarette fluids containing more than two per cent nicotine, restricts the sale of e-cigarette fluid to small, 10ml bottles and bans e-cigarette advertising in printed media, online and on television and radio. As a result of the TPD, twelve countries that scored a perfect zero for nanny state regulation of e-cigarettes now have at least 16 points (out of 100). The UK and France have become the first countries in the Northern hemisphere to ban branding on tobacco packaging (‘plain’ or ‘standardised’ packaging). Hungary, Slovenia and Ireland look set to join them in the next few years and there have inevitably been calls to roll this policy out to food and alcohol.

Where is these regulations coming from?

While the EU has been responsible for some big changes to e-cigarette and tobacco regulation in the past year, it would be wrong to blame Brussels for more than a fraction of the nanny state activity seen in Europe. The wide variation in scores between the freest countries at the foot of the table and the more restrictive countries at the top shows that national governments have considerable latitude in regulating personal behaviour.

Nobody forced the French government to ban free refills of sugary drinks. Nobody forced the Finnish government to ban happy hours in bars. The growing tendency towards taxing soft drinks and banning branding on cigarette packs is the result of politicians capitulating to pressure groups in their own countries. As Germany and several other countries have shown, often vocal minorities can be ignored without the sky falling in.

Some governments used the introduction of the EU’s TPD as an opportunity to liberalise their vaping laws. Countries that previously had a de facto ban on e-cigarette sales, including Finland, Denmark, Hungary and Belgium, now permit their sale under varying degrees of regulation.

A bleak future?

National governments are very active “nannies” at the moment. A number of countries are seeking to join Hungary, Finland and France in putting a ‘sin tax’ on sugary drinks. Belgium has already done so. Ireland and the UK will join them next year. Latvia and Lithuania have set a precedent by banning the sale of energy drinks to people under 18 Sweden is set to regulate alcoholic ice cream and Greece has introduced a tax on wine for the first time.

The Czech Republic will soon introduce an indoor smoking ban, albeit with plenty of exemptions. Romania introduced a more severe smoking ban last year, Austria has a ban planned for 2018, leaving only Germany and Slovakia as the lastsmoker-friendly countries in the EU.

Cyprus is looking to extend its smoking ban to some outdoor places and include vaping in it. The governments of Scotland and Finland have set a deadline for making their countries “tobacco-free”. Estonia and the Netherlands are seriously considering a retail display ban for tobacco.

It is not all bad news, for now.

Whilst it is undoubtedly true that the EU is becoming a worse place to eat, drink, smoke and vape, there are a few flickers of liberalisation. For example, Finland abolished its tax on confectionery, chocolate and ice cream in January 2017 and the Finnish government is considering relaxing its highly restrictive alcohol laws by making it legal to buy a round of drinks and pay by credit card. Last year, the Czech Republic’s finance minister pledged to halve VAT on draft beer (this has not yet happened) and, in Bulgaria, a proposed tax on fast food and energy drinks was rejected by the finance minister.

The most sensational piece of deregulation came in Sweden where the e-cigarette market went from complete illegality to laissez-faire by accident. After Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that e-cigarettes are not medical devices and cannot be regulated as such, they fell into legal limbo where they remain at the time of writing. Unsurprisingly, there have been no reports of any health problems as result of e-cigarettes being freely bought and sold. The Swedish government should bear this in mind when they start regulating the vaping market.

The problems and costs of these lifestyle policies.

One of the most important facts is that there is no correlation between Nanny State Index scores and life expectancy; no correlation between tobacco control scores and smoking rates; and no correlation between alcohol control scores and binge-drinking. Moreover, countries with the toughest anti-obesity policies do not have lower rates of obesity. It is more difficult to evaluate anti-vaping policies as it is not obvious what they are trying to achieve, but if the aim is to somehow improve health, it does not appear to be working.

Many of these policies not only fails to improve the health of European citizens but also create problems and costs. “Sin taxes”are regressive and fall most heavily on the poor. High prices fuel the black market. Advertising bans restrict competition and stifle innovation. Smoking bans damage pubs and clubs. Excessive regulation creates costly bureaucracies and drains police resources. Perhaps most importantly, nanny state policies prevent adult consumers from living their lives as they choose.

Conclusion

Looking to the future, the prospects for lifestyle freedom do not look good. A number of countries are seeking to join Hungary, Finland and France in putting a ‘sin tax’ on sugary drinks. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are all on the verge of introducing heavy alcohol legislation. Sweden is set to regulate alcoholic ice cream. Ireland is due to introduce plain packaging for tobacco and may introduce a display ban for alcohol. Even the Czech Republic is introducing an indoor smoking ban later this month. As the Nanny State Index shows in details, the hyper-regulation of private behaviour is on the rise all over Europe and it seems that things are going to get worse before they get better.

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