Release: Global Treaty Parties Meet to Tackle Tobacco Smuggling

Exposé on Tobacco Industry Interference Released

For Immediate Release: 
October 20, 2008

Contacts:
Bryan Hirsch, Corporate Accountability International, in Geneva, +41 76 547 3476
Sara Joseph, Corporate Accountability International, in the US, +1-617-447-2511

GENEVA—Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), also known as the global tobacco treaty, today open a second round of negotiations toward a protocol to combat the illicit tobacco trade. NGOs are calling for the process to be kept free from tobacco industry interference, and for the protocol itself to include safeguards against the tobacco industry’s fundamental conflict of interest with public health, in accordance with treaty obligations.

“The tobacco industry poses the single greatest threat to people getting the health protections they need under the treaty,” says Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International. “Big Tobacco is making tremendous profits at a huge cost to people’s health and public coffers, and should not be considered a ‘partner’ in fighting smuggling.”

This week marks the Geneva release of a report called Protecting Against Tobacco Industry Interference: The 2008 Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide, by Corporate Accountability International and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT). The report presents a snapshot of tobacco industry interference in a range of countries from Mexico to Zambia, and provides activists and policy makers with tools and tactics to counter industry interference.

In September, advocates in 30 countries released the Action Guide as part of the 9th International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals. Events highlighted the dangers of tobacco industry interference in health policy and the commitment ratifying countries have made to protect against such interference in Article 5.3 of the treaty. At the third enforcement meeting on the treaty next month in Durban, South Africa, Parties will be considering specific guidelines on how to implement Article 5.3.

Negotiations this week follow an initial negotiating session on the protocol this past February and build on obligations set out in the FCTC. To date, 160 countries have ratified the treaty, protecting nearly 85 percent of the world’s people. Tobacco kills 5.4 million people around the world each year and the death toll is projected to rise to eight million a year by 2030, with 80 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries. The WHO estimates that broad implementation of the treaty could save 200 million lives by 2050.

According to the Framework Convention Alliance, cigarettes are the most widely smuggled legal consumer product, and the illicit tobacco trade costs governments between U.S. $40 and $50 billion annually in lost revenue.

Tobacco giants claim to be committed to fighting smuggling, and have sought a seat at the table with governments aiming to tackle the problem. However, there is widespread evidence that tobacco transnationals like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) have benefited from—and even been complicit in—tobacco smuggling. Smuggling and other forms of illicit trade can open up new markets for brands like PMI’s Marlboro, BAT’s Dunhill and JT’s Mild Seven by addicting new customers with lower-priced tobacco products that have evaded taxes.

“Corporations like Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco have a fundamental conflict of interest with public health,” says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth–Nigeria, a NATT member. “People around the world are calling on our governments to be vigilant in negotiating this protocol, and to follow through on their obligation to protect against tobacco industry interference.”

NATT is calling on Parties to draft a protocol that:
• Requires tobacco corporations to assume responsibility for their supply chains;
• Provides financial disincentives to the illicit tobacco trade, including criminal and civil liability for corporations that are complicit in it; and
• Prevents government collaboration with the tobacco industry, such as accepting corporate donations to customs authorities or entering into unenforceable agreements that pretend to combat illicit tobacco trade.

For news and photos of the International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals, or to download the 3rd edition of the Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide, available in English, French and Spanish, visit: www.StopCorporateAbuse.org.

The Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) includes more than 100 NGOs from over 50 countries working for a strong, enforceable Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact, is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For 30 years, we’ve forced corporations—like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria—to stop abusive actions. Corporate Accountability International, an NGO in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), played a key role in development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
 

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