WHO: Eliminating the illicit trade in tobacco would generate an
annual tax windfall of US$ 31 billion for governments, improve public
health, help cut crime and curb an important revenue source for the
tobacco industry. Those are the key themes of World No Tobacco Day on 31
May when WHO will urge Member States to sign the "Protocol to Eliminate
the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products". “The Protocol offers the world a unique legal instrument to
counter and eventually eliminate a sophisticated criminal activity,”
says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “Fully implemented, it will
replenish government revenues and allow more spending on health.”
So far, 8 countries have ratified the Protocol, short of the
target of 40 needed for it to become international law. Once that
happens, the Protocol’s provisions on securing the supply chain,
enhanced international cooperation and other safeguards will come into
force.
The Protocol is an international treaty in its own right
negotiated by parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(WHO FCTC), which has been ratified by 180 Parties. Article 15 commits
signatories to eliminate all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products.
The Protocol requires a wide range of measures relating to the
tobacco supply chain, including the licensing of imports, exports and
manufacture of tobacco products; the establishment of tracking and
tracing systems and the imposition of penal sanctions on those
responsible for illicit trade. It would also criminalise illicit
production and cross border smuggling.
“The Protocol faces overt and covert resistance from the
tobacco industry,” says Dr Vera da Costa e Silva, Head of the WHO FCTC
Secretariat. “Manufacturers know that once implemented, it will become
much harder to hook young people and the poor into tobacco addiction.”
The illicit tobacco trade offers products at lower prices,
primarily by avoiding government taxes through smuggling, illegal
manufacturing and counterfeiting. Cheaper tobacco encourages younger
tobacco users (who generally have lower incomes) and cuts government
revenues, reducing the resources available for socioeconomic
development, especially in low-income countries that depend heavily on
consumption taxes. This money might otherwise be spent on the provision
of public services, including health care.
While publicly stating its support for action against the
illicit trade, the tobacco industry’s behind-the-scenes behaviour has
been very different. Internal industry documents released as a result of
court cases demonstrate that the tobacco industry has actively fostered
the illicit trade globally. It also works to block implementation of
tobacco control measures, like tax increases and pictorial health
warnings, by arguing they will fuel the illicit trade.
“Public health is engaged in a pitched battle against a
ruthless industry,” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of the WHO’s
Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases. “On this
World No Tobacco Day, WHO and its partners are showing the ends that the
tobacco industry goes to in the search for profits, including on the
black market, and by ensnaring new targets, including young children, to
expand its deadly trade.”
Policy makers should recognize that the illicit tobacco trade
exacerbates the global health epidemic and has serious security
implications. Ratification of the Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit
Trade in Tobacco Products is a necessary step to combat these twin
evils.