UK:  Lords to Investigate Tobacco Smuggling  

Source from:  New Europe  07/18/2013

The House of Lords in the UK is set to quiz a top European official over the EU's strategy on combating tobacco smuggling today (17 July).

Nicholas Ilett, director of investigations at OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud body, will face questions from Lords about the nature of the illegal trade in cigarettes and other tobacco products.

He will appear before the sub-committee on home affairs, health and education, which is tasked with scrutinising EU legislation in those areas before it is agreed, with the view for improvement.

Earlier this year, the sub-committee conducted scrutiny on the EU's Tobacco Products Directive.

Ilett will be asked questions relating to the current EU strategy on combating the trade in illegal tobacco products, including what are the main drives of the trade, and has the economic crisis increased licit tobacco smuggling.

It is also likely that he will be asked questions on OLAF's role in the tobacco products directive, currently under revision, such as will proposals to ban menthol cigarettes and standardise pacakging facilitate an increase in counterfeiting.

Lords are also keen to find out about how co-operation between various EU bodies, such as Europol and OLAF, can be an effective deterrent against the licit tobacco trade. Earlier this week, MPs backed government plans to opt-out of certain EU justice measures. However, there are plans to rejoin Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency. Enditem