European Cigar Manufacturers Association
Budget
€100 — €0
EP Access
1
accredited persons
Staff
2
1 FTE
EU Grants
None
Mission & Goals
ECMA was founded in the early ‘90s as the representative body of the European manufacturers of cigars. Today ECMA represents the major cigar manufacturers in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain (including the Canary Islands) and Switzerland. Together the ECMA members account for over 85% of the cigars/cigarillos placed on the EU market. ECMA boasts 26 family-owned companies as part of its membership. Of the full 33 ECMA member companies, 17 fall under the definition of small and medium sized enterprises and 2 small-midcaps. With a total number of approximately 9 billion cigars/cigarillos being consumed within the European Union each year, cigar consumption represents approximately 1,77% of the total consumption of tobacco products in the European Union. This makes the cigar industry the smallest member of the tobacco family.
EU Legislative Interests
Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products and repealing Directive 2001/37/EC Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured Tobacco Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment Revision of the Council Recommendation of 30 November 2009 on smoke-free environments Union Customs Code Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 on packaging and packaging waste
Interests Represented
Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members
Member Of
Paul Varakas is a member of the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP) - https://seap.be
Organisation Members
Full members: Arnold André (Germany) Burger Söhne (Switzerland) Canariense de Tabacos (Spain, Canary Islands) Casa 1910 (Switzerland) Continental Tobacco Corporation (Hungary) Corita Cigars (France) Dannemann (Germany) De Olifant (Netherlands) Empresa Madeirense de Tabacos (Madeira, Portugal) Fábrica de Tabaco Micaelense S.A. (Açores, Portugal) Joh. Wilh. Von Eicken GmbH (Germany) JL Tobacco (Malta) Flor de Selva (France) Manifatture Sigaro Toscano (Italy) Moderno Opificio del Sigaro Italiano (Italy) Meerapfel Companies (Belgium) Oettinger Davidoff (Switzerland) Ritmeester Cigars (Netherlands) Scandinavian Tobacco Group (Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium) Tabacalera S.L.U (Spain) Vandermarliere Cigar Family (Belgium) Villiger cigars (Switzerland) Wörmann & Scholle (Germany) Associated members: ANFICEC (Portugal) Asociacion Empresarial del Tabaco (Spain) Fédération des Fabricants de Cigares (France) Bundesverband der Zigarrenindustrie (Germany) Cigar 33 (Belgium) Dios Tabaco e.U. (Austria) Fecibel (Belgium & Luxembourg) Gesinta International (Spain) MY & MI (Slovakia) Nederlandse Vereniging voor de Sigarenindustrie (Netherlands) Rasa Trading (Estonia and Latvia) Sigari Maja (Estonia) The Imported Tobacco Products Advisory Council (United Kingdom)
Additional Information
ECMA is 100% funded by its full members listed above. Each full member has one vote, no matter the size of its contribution to the ECMA’s budget. Origins of membership fees + EU – 95% + Non-EU - 5% (Switzerland) Associated members are closely involved with the work of the association. However, they do not contribute to ECMA’s budget and do not have voting rights. The estimated annual costs attributable to activities covered by the Register in 2024: €125,922
Commissioner Meetings
No recorded meetings with EU commissioners.