The Influence of the European Tobacco Products Directive on Socio-Economic Situation: Analysis on the Perspective of Competencies Towards Uniformity in Family Business

Purpose: In terms of the sown area, the largest tobacco plantations in the EU are in Italy, Greece, and Poland. Faced with the issues of globalization and responding to the development of the Internet, the European Parliament initiated works on a directive on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member states concerning the manufacture, presentation, and sale of tobacco and related product. After the intended purposes of the Directive were announced Poland raised its objections, because – as predicted – the introduction of new rules would bring a change to the economic situation of the rural areas where tobacco was grown. Against this background, the present article pursues to objectives: 1) to identify the main spheres of social and economic life that have potentially been affected by the Directive, and 2) to assess the impact that the Directive has had on these areas five years after it came into force. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted using the document analysis and the comparative analysis methods. The Polish market was used as an example and compared to those in other European countries. Findings: The Tobacco Products Directive was found to potentially affect 4 spheres: human health, level of budget revenues, production and sale of tobacco products, and agriculture and tobacco growing. However, our analyses did not confirm the claim that any area has been negatively affected; on the contrary, improvements have been observed, for example in terms of the income of tobacco growers or the volume of cigarette production. Originality/value: Apparently, this is the first paper involving a wide assessment of the effects of the Tobacco Products Directive.