Smuggled tobacco costing countries billions in lost revenue
Cigarette smuggling, which certain transnational giant tobacco companies were believed to be behind, was not only a major threat to the country's public health and tax revenues but also to the world, experts said yesterday.
Each year, it was estimated the illicit tobacco trade caused US$33 billion (Bt1.15 trillion) in taxation losses globally, said Luk Joossens, director of the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA). The FCA comprises 180 non-government organisations from more than 70 countries, and serves as an umbrella for net-works and individual organisations working on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control" (FCTC). The average value of the illicit tobacco trade was estimated to be 8 per cent of global cigarette sales, said Joossens, adding that in some countries like Brazil the rate was as high as 30 per cent. In Asia, illegal tobacco accounted for 10 per cent of total cigarette sales in Vietnam and 12 per cent in Malaysia, he said. In Thailand, the loss in tax revenues caused by cigarette smuggling was estimated to be about Bt1.7 billion a year, said Public Health Minister Dr Mongkok na Songkhla. It was tobacco companies who were behind the smuggling of cheap cigarettes into the country as a way to increase sales and avoid paying high taxes, according to Mongkol. Leading anti-smoking advocate Dr Prakit Vateesatogkit, said some internal documents obtained by anti-smoking groups showed that certain cigarette companies were involved in smuggling their own brands into countries as a tactic to increase sales with cheap illegal products. The illicit tobacco trade was widespread in countries of all levels of incomes, said Joossens, adding cigarette sales at duty-free shops accounted for large losses in tax revenue. "This is a global problem and needs to be resolved at the international level," he said. International protocols aimed at fighting the illegal trade of tobacco were being drafted. They would be discussed and approved at the coming 2nd WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) conference in Bangkok in June, said Dr Hatai Chitanond, who chaired the conference. The conference was expected to come up with transnational legal controls and identify technology to fight the illicit cigarette trade as well as cross-border tobacco advertising About 1,000 anti-smoking advocates from more than 140 countries are expected to attend the meeting.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation
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