Still waiting for Godot

The EU Commission said last week that the fight against the illegal tobacco trade is a ‘cross-border phenomenon that requires a global approach and international co-operation’.
In answer to a number of questions by a member of the EU Parliament, it said also that the measures enshrined in the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, introduced through the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which the EU had signed and concluded, aimed to address this problem.
‘Once entered into force, the FCTC Protocol will be the main tool to prevent illicit tobacco trade at the international level,’ it said.
In a preamble to her questions, posed in December, the Lithuanian MEP, Laima Liucija Andrikienė, said the government of Belarus had recently announced that a private investor would increase the manufacturing capabilities of the Grodno Tobacco factory.
According to the announcement, the increase in production was due to start in January 2018, in response to a growing demand for Belarusian cigarette brands.
The EU was among the target markets.
The MEP alleged that Belarusian cigarette brands manufactured at the Grodno factory were smuggled into more than 20 member states where they could not be legally sold.
They already represented around EUR1 billion in yearly tax losses.
Andrikienė asked:

1. Will the European External Action Service (EEAS) address this issue with the government of Belarus?
2. Will the EEAS request information about the member state markets on which Belarusian cigarette brands can legally be sold and how the exports will be tracked to avoid ruptures in the supply chain?
3. Will the EEAS point out that low taxes applied in Belarus on cigarettes are the incentive for smuggling into the EU?

In its reply, the Commission said that during the meeting of the EU-Belarus Co-ordination Group held in Brussels on December 19 and 20, the Commission services and the EEAS had raised the issue of the increased inflow of illicit cigarettes from Belarus to the EU and the decision by the Belarusian government to increase the production of cigarettes.
‘The Commission services and the EEAS have further invited Belarus to enhance the fight against illicit trade in tobacco products, strengthen the co-operation with the Commission and in particular with the European Anti-Fraud Office, sign and ratify the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (“FCTC Protocol”) and approximate its excise duty rates to the EU excise duty rates on manufactured tobacco,’ it said. ‘This issue will be followed up in bilateral dialogues with Belarus and in the EU-Belarus Co-ordination Group, which is the platform for political dialogue between the EU and Belarus.
‘In close co-operation with member states’ customs authorities, the Commission services monitor the illicit trade of tobacco products in the EU, including with respect to tobacco products originating in Belarus.
‘However, the fight against illicit tobacco trade is a cross-border phenomenon that requires a global approach and international co-operation.
‘The measures enshrined in the FCTC Protocol, which the EU signed and concluded, aim to address this problem.
‘Once entered into force, the FCTC Protocol will be the main tool to prevent illicit tobacco trade at the international level.’