Urgent action needed to tackle underage sales and tobacco smuggling

In response to LACORS’ report on the issue of illegal tobacco sales, Christopher Ogden, Chief Executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA), said:

“ The TMA completely agrees with the Government that children should not smoke and should be actively discouraged from doing so. The TMA is a principal stakeholder in CitizenCard (www.citizencard.com), the UK’s leading proof-of-age scheme [1.8m cards issued] and the No ID, No Sale (www.noidnosale.com) campaign operated by CitizenCard which promotes all PASS accredited (Government approved) Proof of Age / ID schemes.
“The key issue is that retailers must be able to establish the age of any potential customer before a sale is made. We fully support sanctions against those retailers who sell to young people, and welcome stronger enforcement of the law to prevent underage sales.
“The NINS campaign has engaged over 130,000 retailers nationwide and created a culture in which young people expect to be asked to prove their age, and in which retailers accept only the correct ID.
“The TMA welcomes all new initiatives to combat illegal sales, especially the deep-rooted problem of tobacco smuggling, and we also applaud the recent successes of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in making significant seizures of illicit tobacco.”

“The tobacco industry has been fully committed to tackling this problem for many years and the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the TMA’s member companies and HMRC have created a comprehensive framework for co-operation. This is aimed at combating the smuggling of both genuine and counterfeit tobacco products into the UK as well as seeking to deter all aspects of the illicit trade. More recently we have provided anti-counterfeit technology to enable law enforcement bodies to readily identify whether tobacco products are genuine or not.”

There is particular concern over the Government’s proposed legislation to ban tobacco displays in shops. The serious unintended consequences of this proposal have been ignored by the government. We believe, as recent evidence in Ireland proves, with the seizure of significant quantities of counterfeit cigarettes of the top two brands in Ireland complete with dual language and pictorial health warnings as well as tax stamps, that organised crime will exploit the display ban. The legislation will make illicit, unregulated tobacco products easier to sell.

Christopher Ogden added:

“Smugglers are innovative and relentless, finding new ways to infiltrate the market as demonstrated by ‘Cheap Whites’ [2] that are now appearing on UK streets. In addition, those operating in the illicit market show no concern for those they sell to and as a result many under the legal age gain access to illicit tobacco.“

“What we need now is a multi-agency approach. We wish to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including LACORS and the public health community, with whom we have a common cause in meeting the challenge of tackling tobacco smuggling. To this end we shall be liaising further with the Department of Health to assess the options for further action.”

For further information and/or interviews please contact:

Dirk Vennix, TMA Director of Communications
t: 020 7544 0111 e: dvennix@the-tma.org.uk
m: 07872376748

Notes to Editors:

1. The TMA is the trade association for tobacco companies that operate in the UK. Our members are British American Tobacco UK Ltd (www.bat.com), Gallaher Ltd (a member of the JTI Group of companies – www.jti.com), and Imperial Tobacco Ltd. (UK). (www.imperial-tobacco.com)

2. HMRC defines “cheap whites’ as brands produced by smaller, overseas manufacturers that make no legitimate supplies of any tobacco products to the UK. There is often little or no legitimate market for these brands anywhere in the world. Effectively, these products – commonly known as “cheap whites”– are produced for smugglers. In some cases “cheap whites” are produced in countries outside the European Union, such as Russia, and smuggled into the UK where they are illegally sold at a street price of between £2.50 – £3.00 per packet. The prevalence of “cheap whites” is believed to be increasing.

3. HM Revenue & Customs estimates that in 2006/7 up to 17% of cigarette and up to 59% of handrolling tobacco consumption was smuggled. Crossborder shopping accounts for a further 8% of cigarette consumption and 8% of handrolling tobacco consumption.

4. The incidence of tobacco smuggling into the UK ‘exploded’ in the 1990s as a direct result of
a Government policy to raise tobacco taxation above the rate of inflation. Since 2000/1 this
has resulted in almost £26 billion in lost tax revenue with HM Treasury losing up to £3.1
billion per annum (2006-2007), equivalent to £8.5 million per day.

5. Further information about the issue of tackling tobacco smuggling can be found on the TMA’s website – www.the-tma.org.uk.