EU-PMI trade agreement to end
The EU is not going to renew an agreement with Philip Morris International aimed at reducing the illegal trade in tobacco products, according to stories in the EU Observer, the Financial Times and Enter Parse.
Under the terms of a 2004 agreement that is due to expire on Saturday, PMI agreed to work with the EU while contributing €1 billion.
Similar agreements were subsequently made with British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International, but these are not yet due for renewal.
Unnamed officials who were said to have confirmed the decision not to renew the agreement indicated that a change in smuggling trends coupled with tougher EU anti-tobacco laws that came into force this year meant that the agreement was no longer necessary.
MEPs had called on the European Commission not to renew the agreement with PMI, arguing that it was ineffective and inappropriate, particularly since the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control called for a general separation between governments and tobacco companies.
Luk Joossens, a tobacco control expert at the Association of European Cancer Leagues, welcomed the decision. “It was not worth working with industry,” he said. “There is always suspicion from other countries because the EU collaborates with industries.”
And Bart Staes, a Belgian MEP who argued against the renewal, said that PMI and other tobacco companies had made an unsuccessful legal challenge against the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive; so it would have been inappropriate to conclude a new bilateral agreement.
PMI, which had indicated that it wanted the arrangement to continue, said that what mattered most for the company was that the supply chain control measures contained within the agreement would remain an integral part of how it did business in the EU and around the world. ‘With or without the agreement, our commitment to fight illegal trade around the world remains intact and stronger than ever,’ PMI was quoted as saying.