Fresh urges for pioneering approach to illegal tobacco to be rolled out nationally after House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Report
Fresh has urged for a pioneering approach launched in the North East in 2009 to tackle illegal tobacco to be rolled out nationally following the publication of a new report by the Home Affairs Committee.
The Home Affairs Committee Report calls for better co-operation between enforcement teams fighting illicit trade such as HMRC, trading standards and police – work which has been happening in the North East and North West since 2009 under the “North of England Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Partnership.”
The Home Affairs Committee report also states that “the decision on standardised packaging should be driven by health reasons” and says any opportunities for criminals could be mitigated by better tracking and tracing of illegal tobacco in the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive, due to be implemented by 2016.
Since 2009, work in the North East to tackle illegal tobacco has seen the market decline from around 15% of the market in 2009 down to 9% in 2013, This has resulted in 52,000 fewer illegal tobacco smokers and 242 million fewer illegal cigarettes smoked, worth around £67 million in duty.
Fresh, with Tobacco Free Futures and Smoke Free South West has launched the national Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Partnership which brings together experts from HMRC, health and trading standards from the North East and North West, Yorkshire and the South West to tackle supply and demand.
Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh, said: “This report makes it pretty clear that effective joined up work across organisations like trading standard and HMRC can help drive further reductions in the illegal tobacco market and remove opportunities for criminals to profit from ill health.
“The report also pours water on the tobacco industry’s claims that that removing glossy brands from tobacco will lead to an increase in illicit trade.”
“This partnership work has been underway in our region since 2009 and we firmly believe the committee chairman Keith Vaz should now look at how this approach can be rolled out nationally to compliment the excellent work nationally and internationally to fight this trade.
“Credit goes to our local authorities who with HMRC have played a vital role in tackling local supply in areas where illicit sales have been identified as a problem – closing down the local illegal supply chain, warning dealers that sales will not be tolerated locally and creating a deterrent against sales.
The North of England Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Programme has previously been praised in the report by All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health enquiry into illegal tobacco, the Public Accounts Committee report on illegal tobacco and a report by the National Audit Office into illegal tobacco.
The report findings are:
Penalty regime
• HMRC has not fined any UK tobacco manufacturer for over-supplying products or failing to control its supply-chain, and has issued only one statutory warning letter threatening a fine.
• HMRC should publish a clear set of criteria setting out the circumstances in which it would impose a fine and that an immediate review be taken of all historic and ongoing cases against this criteria.
Reduction in arrests, prosecutions and convictions
• Over the last three years the numbers of arrests, prosecutions and convictions for organised crime cases involving tobacco have all fallen. Civil penalties were also substantially below target in both 2011–12 and 2012–13
• The Government and its appropriate agencies, should combat this problem at source. Members of HMRC and Border Force should set up firm relationships with their counterparts in countries such as Malaysia to ensure that intelligence and best practice is shared.
Mandatory plain packaging
• The decision on standardised packaging should be driven by health reasons. There must be a more vigorous effort on enforcement.
Track and trace technology
• Any future legislation to introduce standardised packaging should include a requirement for appropriate security and tracking features, including a effective track and trace system.