OpenLobby.EU
Explore

European Chronic Disease Alliance

ECDA

Mission: To reverse the alarming rise in chronic diseases by providing leadership and policy recommendations based on contemporary evidence.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Evaluation of the rates and structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages

1 Jul 2022

The European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) welcomes the opportunity to provide input on the evaluation of the rules governing excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages. These have not been updated in the past 30 years (since 1992) despite market evolutions, consumption changes and continuously growing evidence on the negative impact of alcohol consumption on people’s health. It is therefore high time to consider the effectiveness of the current system and ways to improve it, with a view to pursue public health efforts in Europe – including prevention of major non-communicable diseases, which share alcohol consumption as a common, detrimental risk factor. There is strong evidence on the benefits and value of raising alcohol taxation, part of the “best buys” (cost-effective interventions) recommended by WHO to lower alcohol consumption levels and address one of the major public health challenges of the EU. Taxation allows to decrease affordability of alcohol. Yet, it remains one of the least implemented measures. Recent studies have shown that alcohol remains very affordable in Europe, and that alcohol taxes have been under-utilized as a public health measure. They have also concluded that implementing a minimum tax share would yield significant health benefits. In light of the evidence and detrimental effects of alcohol consumption on health and the economy, the EU should increase minimum excise duties to the highest possible, setting up a harmonized level of tax across Europe for all types of alcoholic beverages. A recent study led by the NCD Advisory Council under the new WHO signature initiative has calculated how alcohol tax increase will impact mortality in the WHO European region and provided recommended minimum levels for such a tax. Further, we would like to stress the following points: The Court of Justice of the European Union judged Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) to be more effective than comparable measures as it was highly targeted at harmful and extreme drinks and was likely to reduce health inequality. This decision should prompt the EU to be more active in supporting implementation of this tax across Europe, in accordance with WHO recommendations. The EU should support regular monitoring of the share of excise taxes on the price of alcohol beverages in member states and provide guidance to promote reforms that increase tax share. Alongside alcohol taxation to increase the price of alcohol products, the EU should stimulate implementation of other alcohol control measures recommended by the WHO as part of the “best-buys”, in particular restricting alcohol availability and banning advertising. In these areas, action needs to be taken urgently in particular to protect Europe’s younger generations. Raising alcohol taxes should be seen as a major step to save lives and prevent the harm caused by alcohol consumption, which affects multiple age groups and which no member state has been spared from. KEY FACTS - Approximately 268,000 deaths and almost 8 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (years of life lost) attributable to alcohol consumption in the EU in 2019 are related to non-communicable diseases. - Better prevention and control of alcohol consumption would bring significant health, economic and societal benefits; and is integral to managing and reducing the prevalence of major NCDs. - Annually, introducing a minimum tax share of 25% could prevent 40,033 deaths in the WHO European Region. For reference, this level accounts for one third of the WHO-recommended tax share of cigarettes. A 15% tax share with equalization could prevent 132,906 deaths.
Read full response

Response to Setting of nutrient profiles

4 Feb 2021

The European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) welcomes the opportunity to provide input on the Commission’s inception impact assessment on an EU system on front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling, envisioned as a cornerstone of consumers’ understanding of the nutritional value of foods as part of the Farm to Fork Strategy. Such a scheme should fully promote and safeguard public health in Europe. To successfully do so, ECDA recommends that the EU-level system be mandatory for all EU member states, interpretative and uniform. Such a scheme has the potential to lower the prevalence and mortality of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the EU. Indeed, it is estimated that over 950,000 deaths and over 16 million DALYs are attributable to dietary risks due to unhealthy diets every year across the EU. A fully-harmonised, mandatory, simplified, interpretive FOP nutrition labelling scheme would contribute to healthy environments, as well as empower consumers to make informed healthy food choices. Various recent studies find that intepretative schemes are most effective at improving consumers’ understanding of the nutritional quality of foods and perform well with lower socio-economic groups, who are amongst the most vulnerable groups to dietary risk factors. Further, these schemes have gained considerable traction and are becoming more widely implemented across Europe. It is essential that the future scheme takes into account national food-based dietary guidelines, to be appropriate for disease prevention; and be defined with the input from a scientific committee of independent experts which should be transparent and free from conflicts of interests. Findings and recommendations from the group should be available publicly and open for consultation. Further, we would like to stress the following points: • A mandatory approach is essential to ensure that all food and drinks are included. Hence, ensuring that all people living in the EU benefit from an evidence-based FOP nutrition labelling system with high coverage of products on the market. Exemptions will undermine the aim of the system to be implemented uniformly and consistently, and efforts to maximise its impact. • Uniform reference values (e.g. per 100g or ml) should be indicated for all products. • A thorough FOP labelling policy monitoring and evaluation programme should be put in place to ensure appropriate roll out of the scheme and effectiveness. The selected policy option should not only help citizens make healthy choices, but also improve reformulation of processed products towards healthier formula (with less fats, sugars and/or salt), another objective of the Farm to Fork strategy. The assessment of options should therefore take into account the extent to which implementation of FOP labelling has or can stimulate reformulation and restrict the promotion of products high in facts, sugars and/or salt (HFSS). ECDA recommends that the European Commission assesses the policy options in that regard.
Read full response

Response to Proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

25 Jan 2021

The European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) welcomes the opportunity to provide input on the Commission’s proposal to reinforce the ECDC’s mandate, envisioned as a building block of the European Health Union. ECDA fully supports this initiative. If Europe is to focus on greater strategic autonomy and be a geopolitical force that remains the healthiest region of the world it needs a world class Centre for preventing and controlling diseases, a more effective ECDC that is all inclusive and that can present information which is relevant for health authorities and health care professionals. Article 31 of the ECDC’s Founding Regulation provides for the possibility to extend the scope of its mission to other relevant Community-level activities in public health. One of the lessons of the pandemic is that the Centre needs to be able to cover non-communicable disease information where necessary. Vital indicators on key diseases are currently missing, hampering collective progress in the EU. There is a significant lack of comparable and sustainable data on the prevalence of major chronic diseases in the EU and on their risk factors. The solution should be to bring all the disjointed data together and ECDC is seen as the most qualified body for this task. By doing so, the ECDC could take a far more active role in public health, supporting member states’ efforts to manage better the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, which affects one third of European adults and account for 86% of all deaths. It would be able to centralise, analyse and interpret comparable data at the EU level; provide scientific advice on prevention and management; therefore contributing to the implementation of flagship initiatives of the EU and to the realisation of a European Health Data Space. Infectious diseases and chronic diseases are closely linked, as further demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their continuous segregation undermines the efforts undertaken for an effective and comprehensive public health response. To truly safeguard the health of Europeans, there is a need for an integrated approach. The 2019 evaluation of the ECDC emphasised the potential for the Centre to take up responsibilities related to assessing population health at European level, providing policy recommendations, best practices and benchmarking in terms of health promotion and disease prevention. WHO has highlighted the urgency to step up the prevention and control of chronic diseases, advising that these be integral to COVID-19 response and recovery plans. Effective planning and targeted health investment to reduce inequalities and improve the response to pre-existing chronic diseases, especially in vulnerable groups, is of paramount importance both to improve pandemic management and avoid severe collateral damage. EU institutions also acknowledged the necessity to act, by placing prevention at the core of the EU4Health programme in the Deal reached in December. The ECDC’s expertise, aptitude to manage large networks of national public health bodies, and the high quality of its scientific advice are internationally recognised. The effectiveness of its tools for collection, analysis and dissemination of data is proven. Expanding the existing infrastructure and centralised mechanism makes great sense to support data collection efforts in other areas, increase sustainability and efficiency of EU-level activities and complement national work. The 2019 independent evaluation of ECDC highlighted the support from a wide range of stakeholders for the extension of the ECDC’s work in the field, particularly in the areas of health promotion, information & monitoring, and health determinants. The European Parliament also asked that ECDC be empowered to tackle the gaps in chronic disease epidemiology. ECDA recommends that the European Commission assesses a further expansion of the ECDC mandate in that regard, and provides the capacity to the ECDC to perform this mission.
Read full response

Meeting with Stella Kyriakides (Commissioner)

18 Sept 2020 · Virtual meeting about Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and chronic diseases

Meeting with Anne Bucher (Director-General Health and Food Safety)

9 Jan 2019 · courtesy visit, presentation of activities

Response to Establishing a legal limit for the industrial trans fats content in foods

31 Oct 2018

The European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a regulation setting an EU wide legal limit to industrial trans fats in food products and supports a legislative limit of 2g of industrial trans fatty acids per 100g of fat, as proposed by the Commission. This initiative goes in the direction of the WHO recommendation for the elimination of industrially-produced trans fatty acids from global food supply, conclusions from European Parliament studies, and coincides with the call of many European organisations representing healthcare professionals, patients and citizens. ECDA has long been encouraging the European Commission to take a legislative measure to protect EU citizens from the negative impact of industrial trans fats on health: TFAs increase the risk of a number of chronic diseases, in particular coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease and cancer such as breast and colorectum cancer. TFAs intake is associated with greater incidence of kidney disease and may increase risk of other conditions such as infertility, endometriosis, gallstones, Alzheimer’s disease. Several countries in the EU and beyond have introduced legislation setting a statutory upper limit of industrially produced trans fatty acids acknowledging that this is the most effective intervention to protect public health and address health inequalities, which was also recognised by the European Commission in its decision not to continue infringement proceedings against Denmark. The Commission’s regulation will contribute to reducing health inequalities in the EU by offering a same level of protection against industrial trans fats for EU citizens and as evidence shows that people from economically disadvantaged groups are likely to consume more TFAs by way of diet consisting of more processed foods. The ECDA however regrets that the Commission’s proposal provides for a transition period that runs until 1 April 2021, delaying the positive effects of the regulation on the population’s health.
Read full response

Meeting with Alina Timofte (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis), Annika Nowak (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis) and European Public Health Alliance

18 Jul 2018 · Non communicable diseases