MEPs Vote to End tobacco Agreement

Source from:  Irish Examiner 03/13/2016

A deal that puts the big tobacco companies in charge of preventing cigarette smuggling was like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, the European Parliament and the World Health Organisation have warned.

The agreement, first made in 2004 when the EU showed that the three major companies were colluding with the black market in tobacco smuggling that costs EU governments at least €10bn a year in lost taxes, is due to be renewed or ended by July.

But furious members of the European Parliament voted to end the agreement first drawn up by the European Commission in a deal to settle a court action against the companies long believed to be part of the smuggling racket.

They were even more incensed when it emerged that part of the €2bn being paid over 15 years by the big three companies was helping fund OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office that has been investigating dirty tricks by the industry.

Northern Ireland Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson said the agreement had failed miserably. "They have been used as a fig leaf to mask the inadequacies of the European Union in dealing with the scourge of illicitly traded tobacco, which still costs the EU an estimated €10bn each year".

MEPs were also furious that the Commission would even consider renewing the agreement given that one of the companies, Philip Morris, was challenging the new Tobacco Products Directive in the courts. It bans pretty packaging and different flavours and insists on special markings on cigarette packs so they can be traced if part of the black market.

Dublin Independent MEP Nessa Childers, a member of the health committee, said, "This most awkward, smoke-stained expedient has long become obsolete and a source of chicanery on the part of big tobacco, who now hail it as part of their corporate social responsibility schemes".

An open letter from Dr Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva of the World Health Organisation's convention on tobacco control, asked, "is it wise to put a fox in charge of a henhouse?", and pointed out that the tobacco industry is trying to prevent countries and organisations joining the international anti-smoking protocol.

The tracking and tracing systems and the EU's new directive used a system invented by Philip Morris and just generates a code for products and does not effectively track or trace their illegal use.

"It's essentially a "black box" that is protected by a tobacco industry patent. We don't know what's inside, but we do know that it's managed and controlled by the tobacco industry", she said.

The commission, in an assessment of the agreement, said it had resulted in a drop of around 85% in the amount of illegal PMI cigarettes seized by member states between 2006 and 2014, and that information from the company had led to seizures and the dismantling of criminal networks.
 
It added, however, that new anti-tobacco agreements supersede it and agree that it may be against some international obligations. Enditem