Philippines: Proposal to Cut Tobacco Smuggling Will Favor Local Industry, Not Curb Smoking, Health Groups Say

Source from:  InterAksyon 08/12/2013

The National Tobacco Administration has come up with a draft to amend regulations on tobacco products.

However, health advocates are determined to take action before the draft—once issued and approved—will supposedly only prevent smuggling of imported cigarette products.

Among these health advocates were members of the Action for Economic Reforms, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines, Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine and Womanhealth-Philippines.

According to a statement from these groups, the memorandum masquerades as an illicit trade control measure but only serves to protect the vested interests of the domestic tobacco industry.

On the other hand, the NTA claims that the policy will prevent smuggling, counterfeiting, and illicit trading of imported tobacco products through proper supervision, monitoring and regulation in order to protect the consuming/smoking public.

The groups, however, believe the objective for the said proposal is only to perpetuate a discriminatory system that favors domestic cigarette producers.

Increasing the evaluation fee and imposing evaluation procedures on imported cigarettes will not reinforce the existing regulatory measures by the Bureau of Customs to curb illicit tobacco trade, the groups stated.

Selective regulation that seeks to address only illicit trade of imported cigarettes will also fail to resolve the greater and more alarming concerns of domestic smuggling by local cigarette companies, it added.

The group statement explained that the proposed policy will violate the countrys commitment to international trade rules which prohibit the use of internal fees or taxes to favor the domestic industry.

"We challenge the NTA to prove the legitimacy of its intention to curb illicit cigarette trade, and not merely perpetuate discrimination against foreign products through the measures proposed under Memorandum 003-2013," the groups said. "We call for a genuine smuggling-control policy that will address all threats of illicit trade, including counterfeiting and domestic smuggling."

The NTA was then urged to push for measures such as a tracking/tracing system to effectively monitor the movement of all tobacco products and support the governments existing illicit trade control policies as well as a revision of the proposed measure itself.

Uniformly imposing higher evaluation and regulatory fees on both foreign-made and domestically produced cigarettes will discourage the sale of tobacco. It will also, make the deadly products less accessible to the public.

"We also call on government in general to introduce other tobacco-control measures that will supplement the sin tax reforms and advance the country's health objectives," the groups said. Enditem