Fresh responds to article on illicit tobacco in Better Retailing
We read the recent article, The scourge of illicit tobacco: what independent retailers can do to help stub out illegal tobacco sales on betterretailing.com and on behalf of the Illicit Tobacco Partnership, wanted to share some points in the article which we feel do need addressing:
The article states the illicit tobacco trade ‘puts sub-quality and even toxic products into circulation’. Given smoking has killed over 8 million people since 1971, we would point out that cigarettes are the most toxic product legally sold in shops today, containing thousands of poisonous chemicals which cause 16 types of cancer, heart disease, COPD and stroke. Around 70,000 people in England still die every year thanks to tobacco addiction and it is misleading to suggest legal tobacco is in any way a non-toxic option. There is no such thing as a better quality of lung cancer.
While the article focussed mainly on counterfeits, the fact is that “fakes” only make up one small part of the illegal tobacco market which also includes smuggled foreign “cheap whites” and genuine tobacco industry products making their way onto the streets. Clearly retailers have an interest in reducing illegal tobacco – and yet retailers so rarely ever get to hear of the role tobacco companies have played in tobacco smuggling without duty being paid, the legal agreements that they have been forced to sign and the fines they have had to pay as a result of their lack of supply chain control, even though these have been widely reported in other national media.
The tobacco industry makes huge profits from selling tobacco compared to the small profits made by retailers compared to many other FMCGs. The Chief Medical Officer recently said diseases like lung cancer – 70% of cases being smoking-related – are caused entirely for profit. To portray the tobacco industry as socially responsible mispresents the facts around the impact of their core business.
Your article indicates that the tobacco industry has a role to play in receiving information from retailers on illicit tobacco sales in their area which they do not. The only legitimate role that the industry can play in tackling illicit tobacco is limited and clearly defined: when seized illicit tobacco products are suspected to be counterfeit – not non-UK duty paid products nor ‘cheap whites’ – and a Section 9 statement from the relevant brand holder is required by enforcement agencies for prosecution. It is unnecessary for a retailer needs to contact a JTI, BAT, Imperial or PMI representative with information on illicit tobacco sales. The first point of contact for any retailer is Trading Standards who will contact the brand holder if their input is required for enforcement purposes.
Your article relies heavily on data from the KPMG illicit tobacco report funded by tobacco manufacturers. Extracts from an ‘important notice’ in the June 2021 KPMG report for PMI on illicit tobacco contain the following revealing disclaimers:
- “We [KPMG] have not sought to establish the reliability of the information sources by reference to other evidence. We relied upon and assumed without independent verification, the accuracy and completeness of information available from public and third party sources.”
- “To the fullest extent permitted by law, KPMG LLP does not assume any responsibility and will not accept any liability in respect of this Report other than to the beneficiary.”
To include data funded by the tobacco industry, with such low levels of reliability as outlined even by the report’s authors, is misleading. HMRC provides the only source of accurate, robust data on the illicit tobacco market in the UK which shows a long-term sustained decline over the last two decades rather than ‘a flood that’s grown drop by drop’ as indicated by your article.
The way that tobacco is regulated is changing, as your article rightly points out. Fewer people than ever are smoking and the Government has made a commitment to end smoking in England by 2030. Retailers will need to be adjusting to the reality that the tobacco market is on a long-term decline as more and more smokers are choosing to quit.