The European Union is on course to impose a total ban on tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines and on the radio and internet within three years.

The draft legislation received a large majority in the European parliament on 20 November and will now be considered by EU governments. It represents a major victory for David Byrne, the European public health commissioner, who has made the fight against tobacco one of his top priorities.

The legislation is designed to replace earlier measures, which the European Court of Justice had partially annulled on the grounds that the …