Illicit Trade - Facts and Fiction

Image: Peggy and Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

The purpose of this section, hosted in the Facts area of the SFP website, is to provide information, resources and evidence on illicit tobacco trade to partners and policy-makers, and to address tobacco industry narratives on illicit trade. 

Relevant resources:

Resource 1: SFP Mythbuster on Tobacco Taxation, available here. This resource is intended for policy-makers and civil society advocates alike, disproving the six main myths propagated by tobacco industry against tobacco taxation. In the gallery below, you can also download each individual myth in order to use it in your social media and other communications activities (please provide credit to Smoke Free Partnership when using the images).

Resource 2: SFP Factsheet on the EU cooperation agreements with tobacco manufacturers, available for download below. After the termination of an agreement between the European Union and Philip Morris on the fight against illicit trade in 2016, this paper makes the case for the termination of the three remaining agreements between the EU and tobacco manufacturers. 

Resource 3: SFP Factsheet about the Agreement between the EU and Philip Morris International, available here in 7 languages. This document identifies key facts and questions that were arising out of the negotiation to renew an Agreement from 2004 with Philip Morris. The EU eventually decided to terminate it in 2016, but there are still three agreements between the EU and tobacco manufacturers.

Resource 4: Framework Convention Alliance Illicit Trade Protocol Guidebook, available here. The guide was written with the purpose of educating Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products on the basic principles and concepts related to track and trace. Based on the success of other supply chain security programs, it includes technical and strategic guidance.

Resource 5: Framework Convention Alliance Policy Brief 'Why the EU tracking and tracing system works only for the EU', available here. The Framework Convention Alliance examined the EU’s tracking and tracing system, identified important policy considerations, outlined technical aspects of the system and provided key recommendations in this policy briefing.

Resource 6: 2nd Action Plan to fight the illicit tobacco trade 2018-2022, available here. In December 2018, the European Commission published its 2nd Action Plan to fight the illicit tobacco trade. It has a special focus on the FCTC and the Protocol to Fight the Illicit Trade of Tobacco. It is covering the policy and the law enforcement aspects.

Resource 7: European Anti-Faud Office (OLAF) website, available here. OLAF is the European body mandated to detect, investigate and stop frauds.