BRUSSELS, Dec. 2 — The European Union came a step closer to a total ban on tobacco advertising today when health ministers voted for a new rule to outlaw the ads in magazines and newspapers.

The law will also ban tobacco ads on radio and the Internet, and prohibit cigarette companies from sponsoring events like Formula One motor racing. The 15 members of the union are obliged to incorporate the pan-European law into their national statutes by July 2005. The union health ministers also signed a recommendation on how all member governments can further discourage tobacco use among children and adolescents. Among the suggestions in the document were banishing cigarette machines from places where children are allowed; banning billboards that advertise tobacco products; and forbidding the use of recognized cigarette brands on other products, like clothing. Television advertising of tobacco products is already banned under a separate union law. The union's health and consumer protection commissioner, David Byrne, called the developments a "double blow against Big Tobacco." "The combined effect of the directive and the recommendation on tobacco prevention brings us very close to a complete ban on advertising of tobacco products," he said. The addition of the print media, the Internet and radio to the ban marks the second union attempt to silence the tobacco industry. Two years ago the European Court in Luxembourg overruled a tobacco advertising code very similar to the new law, after an appeal from the German government together with the British cigarette firm Imperial Tobacco and some European publishing companies. The law was overturned on technical grounds because it failed to show sufficient economic justification. Health, the obvious reason to ban the ads, lies outside the union's purview. The replacement law is based on economic principles intended to create a single European market for tobacco advertising. "It adheres strictly to the limits laid down by the court," Mr. Byrne said. However, Germany looks set to challenge the new code. It argues that local publications should be exempted because they never circulate beyond their local town or region, which places them outside the union-wide market. "In principle, Germany supports efforts aimed at neutralizing the negative effects of tobacco consumption," said Alexander Müller, the German secretary of state for health. But he added that the new law "isn't compatible with the court ruling." The British health minister, Alan Milburn, also voiced his disapproval of the new law, on grounds that it does not go far enough in muting the tobacco industry. "If there is any gap in the directive," Mr. Milburn said, "the industry will seek to exploit this." The British government wants the ban to include media like movie advertising and billboards. He also questioned whether the new law was robust enough to withstand a legal challenge. Imperial Tobacco did not say whether it would appeal. In a statement it expressed disappointment with the decision, which it still believes "exceeds the competence of the European Union." The European Publishers Council, which represents many of the biggest European publishing houses, said it was opposed to the inclusion of print media in the new law. "We would be entirely supportive should the German government seek to mount a legal challenge," said Angela Mills, executive director of the publishers' group.

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