Overview
Lobbying Costs
100,000€ - 199,999€
Financial year: Jan 2022 - Dec 2022
Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
1 Fte (2)
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
3
High-level Commission meetings
1
Lobbying Costs over the years
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Info
European Cigar Manufacturers Association (ECMA)
EU Transparency Register
92802501097-37 First registered on 09 Feb 2009
Goals / Remit
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 80% of the cigars/cigarillos placed on the EU market.
ECMA boasts 19 family-owned companies as part of its membership. Of the full 26 ECMA member companies, 11 fall under the definition of small and medium sized enterprises.
With a total number of approximately 9 billion cigars/cigarillos being consumed within the European Union each year, cigar consumption represents approximately 1,6% of the total consumption of tobacco products in the European Union. This makes the cigar industry the smallest member of the tobacco family.Main EU files targeted
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 wasteAddress
Head Office
Rue Véronèse 73
Brussels 1000
BELGIUMEU Office
Rue Véronèse 73
Brussels 1000
BELGIUMWebsite
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People
Total lobbyists declared
2
Employment time Lobbyists 50% 2 Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
1
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
All Lobbyists with EP accreditation over time
3 accreditations were / are live (in bold) for the selected state of 18 Mar 2025
Name Start date End Date FREDERIK MAURITS M VANDERMARLIERE 23 Sep 2024 02 Jan 2025 Gema Belen HIDALGO CASTAÑO 24 Sep 2024 01 Sep 2025 Ann Pascale Mommerency 24 Sep 2024 01 Sep 2025 Paul Varakas 06 May 2024 31 Dec 2025 Paul Varakas 21 Feb 2023 21 Feb 2024 Paul Varakas 17 Nov 2021 17 Nov 2022 Mr Paul Wujek 22 Oct 2020 01 Nov 2021 Mr Paul Wujek 08 Aug 2019 08 Aug 2020 Ms Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 07 Dec 2018 07 Dec 2019 Ms Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 15 Jan 2018 07 Dec 2018 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 15 Jan 2018 12 Jan 2019 Ms Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 16 Dec 2016 16 Dec 2017 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 16 Dec 2016 16 Dec 2017 Ms Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 05 Jan 2016 16 Dec 2016 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 05 Jan 2016 16 Dec 2016 Ms Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 17 Dec 2014 15 Dec 2015 Mrs Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 17 Dec 2014 27 Jan 2015 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 17 Dec 2014 15 Dec 2015 Mrs Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 14 Jan 2014 17 Dec 2014 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 14 Jan 2014 17 Dec 2014 Mrs Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 26 Jan 2013 14 Jan 2014 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 19 Jan 2013 14 Jan 2014 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 26 Oct 2012 08 Feb 2013 Mrs Maria Angeles MARTINEZ PASTOR 20 Feb 2012 08 Feb 2013 Mr Marcel CRIJNEN 20 Dec 2011 26 Oct 2012 Complementary Information
None declared
Person in charge of EU relations
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
Person with legal responsibility
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
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Categories
Category
Trade and business associations
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Networking
Affiliation
Paul Varakas is a member of the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP) - https://seap.be
Member organisations
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)
Gesinta International (Spain)
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)
Fecibel (Belgium)
MY & MI (Slovakia)
Nederlandse Vereniging voor de Sigarenindustrie (Netherlands)
The Imported Tobacco Products Advisory Council (United Kingdom) -
Financial Data
Interests represented
Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members
Closed financial year
Jan 2022 - Dec 2022
Lobbying costs for closed financial year
100,000€ - 199,999€
Major contributions in closed year
None declared
Intermediaries for closed year
None declaredIntermediaries for current year
Name utopia lab s.r.l. Closed year Costs
100,000€ - 199,999€
Other financial info
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 -
EU Structures
Groups (European Commission)
Excise Contact Group #E02806#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=2806 #MEMBER #C#Civil society#Employees/workers
Groups (European Parliament)
N/A
Communication activities
None declared
Other activities
None declared
Meetings
Meetings
1 meetings found. Download meetings
The list below covers meetings with Commissioners/Cabinet members/Directors-general (high-level) Commission meetings published December 2014 to December 2024, and the meetings of Commissioners/Cabinet members/Directors-general and officials holding "management functions" in the Commission published since 1 January 2025. Other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may well have taken place, but the Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. All information below comes from the Commission and not from the registrant.
1 July 2024: We have noted that some meetings are appearing in duplicate, ie. some meetings seem to be listed twice. This seems to be because the Commission changes some element of a meeting data after the meeting has first been listed, which causes LobbyFacts to register it as a new meeting. We are investigating further.