EUROPE: The tobacco industry could well win the day!

To comply with the World Health Organization protocol, the European Union must ratify an independent traceability system for tobacco products. Problem: the European Commission wants to give the keys to this system to the industry it is supposed to regulate, despite clear conflicts of interest. The Member States and the European Parliament stand out for their absence in this debate.

A TOBACCO DIRECTIVE THAT GIVES THE KEYS TO CIGARETTIERS?

In order to combat the illicit trade in tobacco, which is causing havoc and the tax revenues of the states, the European Commission was studying several possibilities, based on the European directive on tobacco products, itself inspired by the Convention. Framework for Tobacco Control theWorld Health Organization (WHO FCTC), a legally binding international treaty.

However, in its wording, the “tobacco” directive differs slightly from the FCTC, the wording of which, it is true, leaves room for interpretation. The subjects of equivocity relate mainly to the role of manufacturers in providing the equipment necessary for the traceability of transactions. A point that is debated since manufacturers have long been associated with the fight against the illicit trade in cigarettes.

What has not slowed down the explosion in trafficking, a 2009 Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids study estimates that 11,6% of cigarettes sold in the world are illegal, nor has it prevented the involvement of several firms in smuggling cases of their own cigarettes, especially to evade tobacco taxes.

Excited by the maneuvers of the tobacco industry, Vytenis Andriukaitis, the Commissioner in charge of health and food safety, went so far as to publicly condemn the latter [1]. "They [the manufacturers] are doing everything to block the traceability system. We see many activities in EU countries where tobacco lobbies are very powerful and block everyday". It seems, however, that neither the European Commission nor the Member States have risen to the challenge.

Thus, contrary to all expectations, implementing acts and delegated acts  [2] proposed by the European Commission on traceability on tobacco products largely involves industry in the sector. "Tobacco traceability must be an effective and inexpensive tool to combat illicit trafficking"Justified a spokesman for the Commission [3], as if to better explain the choice of a “mixed solution”… that is to say a solution which integrates the tobacco manufacturers in the control of the goods they sell.

The announcement did not fail to make the experts jump, for whom it is not acceptable that the tobacco companies provide themselves the tools of control and traceability of their own products. In a statement, the organization, which brings together 16 recognized members of the industry providing security and authentication systems, denounces the conflicts of interest and interference that such a solution could generate. Thus, the two main points of this detailed report show, on the one hand, that the text proposed by the Commission would allow tobacco manufacturers:

• to have access to the generation of unique codes that identify cigarette packs and, therefore, to potentially be able to manipulate, divert or duplicate them for their own advantage;
• to use their own security functions on the packages;
• to choose their own provider for data storage.

Lost sentence, the Member States have, according to the latest noise corridor Brussels, validated the delegated acts and acts of execution in the state. An error that, if confirmed, would be very serious insofar as it opens the door to a treacherous traceability system, which would benefit the tobacco industry, on the one hand, and organized crime on the other hand. , which derives a sizeable fortune from cigarette smuggling.

A REVOLUTION OF EUROPEAN MPs?

In fact, time is running out now to prevent the tobacco industry from taking over the lucrative tracking and tracing system. The WHO requires a legal device set up in May 2019, which, as it stands, benefits the tobacco companies. They play the watch and fight to keep control of this vast market. What justifies the fears expressed by NGOs and experts in the fight against smoking.

Because, if the Member States endorse the system recommended by the Commission, they would be complicit, in spite of themselves, with smugglers, in particular in the gigantic black market which is widespread throughout Europe from Ukraine and would serve the interests of the tobacco companies. To the detriment of the effectiveness of the fight against illicit trafficking, which involves a clear separation of responsibilities between manufacturers and traceability systems.

After the vote on delegated acts, only MEPs could apply their right of veto and demand a revision from the Commission. The European Parliament, on the glyphosate dossier, has already demonstrated its responsiveness and its willingness to move forward, by voting a non-binding resolution calling for the disappearance of glyphosate. But strangely, even as contraband cigarettes feeds the parallel market and tobacco is a definite carcinogen, responsible for 80% of lung cancer, few Members of Parliament seem to take up the question. The technicality of the subject and the efforts already deployed would they have pushed them to cry victory too quickly?

Françoise Grossetête, one of the pioneers on the subject, had warned her colleagues "With the adoption of the Tobacco Products Directive, we had won a first battle. The rapid implementation of the tracking and tracing system should allow us to win the war. ” Words which, however wise they may be, today seem to be akin to a sermon in the desert ...