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July, 2015:

Hong Kong Customs detects suspected case of smuggling illicit cigarettes in mattresses

Jul 18th, 2015
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http://7thspace.com/headlines/513267/hong_kong_customs_detects_suspected_case_of_smuggling_illicit_cigarettes_in_mattresses.html

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Hong Kong Customs detected a case of using mattresses to conceal suspected illicit cigarettes on July 15 at Lok Ma Chau Control Point. About 610 000 sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes were seized on an incoming lorry. The total market value of the cigarettes was about $1.7 million with a duty potential of about $1.2 million.

In the operation, a 39-year-old male driver was arrested and the lorry used in the suspected smuggling of illicit cigarettes was detained.

On July 15, Customs officers at Lok Ma Chau Control Point intercepted an incoming lorry declared to be carrying 889 cartons of assorted goods including electronic parts, shoes and furniture. After thorough inspection, Customs officers found about 610 000 sticks of suspected illicit cigarettes inside 25 mattresses. It was believed that speedy distribution of the illicit cigarettes to various buyers in the territory would be arranged.

A Customs spokesman said today, “Hong Kong Customs will continue to carry out stringent enforcement action against the smuggling of illicit cigarettes at boundary control points.”

Under the Import and Export Ordinance, smuggling is a serious offence.

The maximum penalty is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Members of the public are urged to report suspected illicit cigarette activities by calling the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce should leave the death-peddling business | Editorial

Jul 18th, 2015
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http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/07/the_chamber_of_commerce_should_leave_the_death-ped.html

Smoking kills nearly six million people a year, but that apparently is not a disincentive for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to shill for tobacco products all over the world.

The Chamber, naturally, resents that interpretation. But a New York Times piece showed how the nation’s largest business lobby is helping Big Tobacco wage a campaign throughout South American, Europe, and Asia against graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, restrictions on public smoking and marketing, and bans on menthol cigarettes.

CEO Tom Donohue asserts on the Chamber’s website that the U.S. Chamber is “not in the business of promoting cigarette smoking at home or abroad, period,” and that it is merely in the business of “upholding intellectual property protections, honoring international agreements, and not singling out any specific industry for discriminatory treatment or destruction of company brands.”

And Tom Bracken, President of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, has ruled no harm, no foul: “The clarifications they issued specifically defines their position, which is that they are totally in favor of anti-smoking measures.”

There’s just one problem with that: The Times published letters from the U.S. Chamber to public officials in countries throughout the world voicing its “concern” about its anti-smoking laws, and threatening that opposing Big Tobacco’s agenda would result in significant economic damage.

Americans don’t think much about the tobacco industry since our educational campaign has reduced the smoking population from 45 percent to 18. But the industry has rallied with full vigor, with the Chamber guiding its every noxious step, as smoking is on the rise on other continents.

For example, there are grammar schools in Indonesia that have cigarette kiosks sponsored by Marlboro. And when countries like Togo (GDP: $4.3 billion) and Uruguay (GDP: $55 billion) try to roll back health ordinances, Philip Morris (annual revenue: $80 billion) uses legal intimidation to kill them, alleging “damage” to its trademark and intellectual property.

The U.S. Chamber even has the political clout to pit one country against another in trade disputes. It enlisted Ukraine to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization against Australia because that country’s laws hurts Ukraine’s tobacco exports. Which is remarkable, because Ukraine doesn’t export tobacco to Australia.

It would be heartening for the Obama Administration to condemn the U.S. Chamber for supporting Big Tobacco, and let the world know that these entities do not speak for the United States. But so far the only righteous stand has come from CVS, which resigned its membership from the USCOC for trafficking in death. Until more corporations send that message, little will change.

Its domestic political influence has waned in recent years. Even when Donohue argues for the right things – such as immigration reform – House Republicans ignore him.

It remains very effective, however, in making money for its corporate partners, even when as wanders into ethical-dead zones under the pretense of “protecting intellectual property.”

But it is time the U.S. Chamber got out of the tobacco business and stopped prioritizing death over profit. And its 100 affiliates worldwide – including the one in New Jersey – should decry its policy of peddling poison.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blowing Smoke for Big Tobacco

Jul 17th, 2015
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Nagaland government bans all forms of tobacco

Jul 16th, 2015
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http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/nagaland-government-bans-all-forms-of-tobacco/102243/

The government of Nagaland has prohibited permanently the manufacture, storage, sale and distribution of all forms of processed sweet flavored/scented/chewable tobacco whether going by the name or form of gutkha, pan-masala, zarda etc., containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients by whatsoever name available in the market in Nagaland.

A notification issued by M.Patton, Food Safety Commissioner, said the prohibitory order was imposed “in pursuance of Regulation 2:3:4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sale) Regulations, 2011″ the prohibition to this effect came into force in the entire state of Nagaland in the “interest of public health”.

The order said “non-compliance to this order would be an offence punishable under Section 59 of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2016″.

HMRC arrest six in £22m tobacco smuggling and tax fraud raids

Jul 15th, 2015
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33539841

From the section England

Six men have been arrested in a series of raids by officers investigating a suspected £22m tobacco smuggling and money laundering operation.

Eleven premises in Essex, Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, London and the West Midlands were raided by HM Revenue and Customs officers earlier.

Four men from Essex were detained, one from Hertfordshire and one from the West Midlands.

Vehicles and paperwork were also seized from the properties.

The premises – both business and residential – were searched simultaneously as part of a “wide-ranging investigation into suspected tobacco excise duty and VAT evasion, and associated money laundering”, codenamed Operation Nipper

Macao’s new tobacco tax rate takes effect

Jul 14th, 2015
by AdminCTA.
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http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=292432

MACAO, July 14 (Xinhua) — The new tobacco tax bill allowing passengers to bring less duty-free cigarettes to Macao took effect on Tuesday.

According to the new regulation, Macao’s new tobacco consumption tax rate doubled from 0.5 patacas to 1.5 patacas per cigarette. Meanwhile, passengers are permitted to bring in 19 cigarettes, or one cigar or 25 grams of other manufactured tobacco.

Cigarette tax would account for more than 70 percent of the retail price, which is in line with the suggestion of the World Health Organization.

This was in bids to prevent importation of dutiable tobacco, especially following the increase of cigarette tax, said in the statement of Macao Special Administrative Region government.

According to the statement, this change was to further accommodate to the work on smoking control under the New Regime of Tobacco Prevention and Control.

The Macao Customs Services and the Economic Services said they would act closely to stop any unlawful trade of tobacco in Macao

Researchers of smoking concoct air channel to clear tobacco smoke rapidly

Jul 14th, 2015
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http://fitnhit.com/health/researchers-smoking-concoct-air-channel-clear-tobacco-smoke-rapidly/23281/

Smoking: Researchers say that a new air-cleaning filter can get rid of all the harmful smoke substances in a room where ten people are simultaneously smoking in less than an hour.

The filter is coated with a manganese oxide-based nano-catalyst, which can be used in a smoking room to reduce and purify major harmful substances of cigarette smoke. The air cleaning equipment based on the newly-developed catalyst can purify over 80% of the cigarette smoke within 30 minutes and 100% of it within an hour, in a 30 square meter smoking room, where 10 people are smoking simultaneously.

Activated charcoal-based filters are mostly used in a smoking room to remove gaseous materials from cigarette smoke. However, those filters are not effective in removing gaseous materials such as acetaldehyde. Their absorption performance decreases fast in a closed facility such as a smoking room, and they need to be replaced at least every other week.

The nano-catalyst filter uses a technology that decomposes elements of cigarette smoke using oxygen radical, which is generated by decomposing ozone in the air on the surface of the manganese-oxide-based nano-catalyst filter.

An evaluation test with total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), such as acetaldehyde, nicotine and tar, which account for the largest volume of gaseous materials in cigarette smoke, was conducted to evaluate the performance of the newly-developed catalyst. The results showed that the new catalyst decomposed over 98% of the harmful substances.

“The new air cleaning equipment based on a simple catalyst successfully processes and removes gaseous materials in cigarette smoke, which are not easily removed with the existing air cleaning technologies,” said Dr Jongsoo Jurng of Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KSIT) in Seoul, who led the study with Dr Gwi-Nam.

“If the new equipment can be simplified and is economically feasible, it will be an important tool for keeping smoking room pleasant and clean. Also, from the convergence perspective, the new nanometre catalyst filter can be integrated with other air cleaning products such as air purifiers and air conditioners,” Jurng said.

Stay tuned.

TTIP: a corporate lobbying paradise

Jul 14th, 2015
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Which businesses are pushing most for the proposed EU-US trade deal TTIP? Who’s influencing EU negotiators? Corporate Europe Observatory’s eight new info-graphics reveal the corporate lobby behind the TTIP talks.

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When preparing the mandate for the negotiations on TTIP, and in the first important months of the talks themselves (January 2012 to February 2014), the European Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations, according to internal Commission files obtained via access to information requests. 528 of those meetings (88%) were with business lobbyists while only 53 (9%) were with public interest groups. So, for every meeting with a trade union or consumer group, there were 10 with companies and industry federations. The rest of the meetings were with other actors such as public institutions and academics. In total, DG Trade met 288 lobby groups in the early phase of the TTIP talks – 250 of them from the private sector (Check the full data and how we gathered it here).

There is evidence that DG Trade actively encouraged the involvement of corporate lobbyists, while keeping pesky trade unionists and other public interest groups at bay. For example, in autumn 2012, DG Trade chased pesticide lobby group ECPA to participate in the then-ongoing public consultation on TTIP. As “the European crop protection/pesticides industry, is one of the key sectors we would be looking at in terms of improving the framework for business,” a DG Trade emailed ECPA, their contribution “would be most welcome”. The official added: “A substantial contribution from your side, ideally sponsored by your US partner, would thus be vital to start identifying opportunities of closer cooperation and increased compatibility”. ECPA responded a few weeks later, together with its US sister organisation CropLife America, demanding “significant harmonisation” for pesticide residues in food. Trade unions, environmentalists, and consumer groups did not receive such special invites.

DG Trade’s responses to contributions to the public consultations also differed greatly. While trade unionists received a standard confirmation receipt, business lobbyists were invited to initiate follow-up meetings with negotiators. The Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), for example, got an email from DG Trade thanking “you for your readiness to work with us”, and offering a meeting, “to discuss about your proposal, ask for clarification and consider next steps”. Again, public interest groups did not receive this special treatment.

BusinessEurope and the US Chamber of Commerce, two of the most powerful pro-TTIP lobby groups, also had a follow-up meeting in November 2012, after responding to one of the Commission consultations on TTIP. On the table: their proposal for “regulatory cooperation”, a “potential game changer” which would allow business lobbyists to “co-write regulation”, as they put it. At the table: officials from DG Trade, but also DG Enterprise and the General Secretariat of the Commission. The atmosphere was clearly friendly. And the Commission stressed its desire to work closely with the two business lobbies to refine the proposal (renewed in another meeting with BusinessEurope in February 2013 where the Commission noted the importance of EU industry “submitting detailed ‘Transatlantic’ proposals to tackle regulatory barriers”1). A year later, the EU negotiation position for regulatory cooperation in TTIP was leaked. The demands of the US Chamber and BusinessEurope had been largely accommodated – one example showing that, while the number of lobby encounters does not have a simple correlation with levels of influence, it is an indicator, and these encounters do pay off.

Another example of the formidable alliance between EU negotiators and the corporate sector is the enthusiasm in the financial lobby community for the EU’s approach on financial regulation in TTIP. When the EU’s position on the issue was leaked in early 2014, Richard Normington, Senior Manager of the Policy and Public Affairs team at TheCityUK – a key British financial lobby group – applauded the Commission’s proposals, because it “reflected so closely the approach of TheCityUK that a bystander would have thought it came straight out of our brochure on TTIP”.

So, clearly, the close involvement of business lobbyists in drawing up the EU’s position for the TTIP talks is a result of the privileged access granted to them by DG Trade. Despite her PR to the contrary, this practice hasn’t changed significantly under the new Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, as the next info-graphic shows.

1. European Commission (2013): Brief report – BusinessEurope US Network meeting, 21 February 2013, dated 22 February 2013. Obtained through access to documents requested under the information disclosure regulation. On file with CEO.

Macao’s new tobacco tax rate takes effect

Jul 14th, 2015
by Editor.
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http://www.globalpost.com/article/6614266/2015/07/13/macaos-new-tobacco-tax-rate-takes-effect

MACAO, July 14 (Xinhua) — The new tobacco tax bill allowing passengers to bring less duty-free cigarettes to Macao took effect on Tuesday.

According to the new regulation, Macao’s new tobacco consumption tax rate doubled from 0.5 patacas to 1.5 patacas per cigarette. Meanwhile, passengers are permitted to bring in 19 cigarettes, or one cigar or 25 grams of other manufactured tobacco.

Cigarette tax would account for more than 70 percent of the retail price, which is in line with the suggestion of the World Health Organization.

This was in bids to prevent importation of dutiable tobacco, especially following the increase of cigarette tax, said in the statement of Macao Special Administrative Region government.

According to the statement, this change was to further accommodate to the work on smoking control under the New Regime of Tobacco Prevention and Control.

The Macao Customs Services and the Economic Services said they would act closely to stop any unlawful trade of tobacco in Macao.

Blair Horner: Big Tobacco And The U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Jul 13th, 2015
by AdminCTA.
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http://wamc.org/post/blair-horner-big-tobacco-and-us-chamber-commerce#stream/0

By Blair Horner

The New York Times recently exposed how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the lobbying arm of Big Business in America, was advancing the cause of the tobacco industry around the world. The U.S. Chamber has been lobbying to block the efforts of nations to enact pro-health measures that seek to reduce the carnage caused by smoking.

The Times documented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s tactics in fighting against health measures to reduce tobacco use, measures such as smoke-free indoor public places, graphic warning labels on tobacco products, restrictions on tobacco marketing and increased tobacco taxes. According to the Times, the U.S. Chamber has been deeply involved in efforts ranging from Latin America, to Europe, and to Asia.

In some cases, the U.S. Chamber directly opposed health policies. In letters to those countries’ public officials, the U.S. Chamber has voiced strong “concerns” about such laws; even threatening that opposing the tobacco industry’s wishes could result in significant economic harm.

The Times uncovered evidence of the U.S. Chamber pitting countries against each other in trade disputes. For example, the Times reported that the nation of Ukraine became embroiled in a lengthy international trade dispute with Australia at the request of the U.S. Chamber’s local affiliate.

In addition, the U.S. Chamber has been systematically engaged in opposing measures in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that would protect countries’ sovereign rights to implement public health policies.

The Times quoted one World Health Organization official, “[The U.S. Chamber] represents the interest of the tobacco industry…They are putting their feet everywhere where there are stronger regulations coming up.”

While the chamber has local branches in the United States, it also has more than 100 affiliates worldwide. According to the Times, for foreign companies, membership comes with “access to the U.S. Embassy” according to the Cambodian branch, and entree to “the U.S. government,” according to the Azerbaijan branch. Members in Hanoi get an invitation to an annual trip to “lobby Congress and the administration” in Washington. In Estonia, the U.S. ambassador serves as honorary president of the chamber’s local affiliate.

Of course, to those who closely watch New York’s politics, the growing clout of the tobacco lobby and its allies comes as no surprise. From 2000 through 2008, New York policymakers took major steps—banning smoking in all public and workplaces, raising tobacco taxes, mandating that all cigarettes had to meet fire safety standards—that made New York the nation’s leader in protecting the public’s health.

Since that time however, the tobacco lobby rebuilt its strength. During the years 2011 through 2014, the tobacco industry’s political operation has strengthened. In 2013, tobacco giant Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris) topped the charts in lobbying spending in New York State.

The growing political clout of the tobacco lobby has paid off. Funding for the state’s tobacco control program has been slashed by half and now ranks 21st in the nation in terms of adequacy, despite New York raising billions in tobacco revenues and a huge increase in overall spending in the state budget. In addition, the current Cuomo Administration has advanced no new significant tobacco control measures.

Let’s remember that the tobacco industry is unique – it makes a product that used as directed, addicts and kills. And it has for decades lied to the American people and many around the world about the dangers of their products. When government officials get bamboozled by the industry’s deceptions, or capitulate to Big Tobacco’s – and their allies’ – political clout, people die.

The Obama Administration should make it clear that the tobacco industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce do not speak for it and the Administration should rescind whatever informal deals it has with the Chamber.

In New York, Governor Cuomo should stand up to the industry and expand the fight against the number one cancer killer in New York by boosting state support for its anti-smoking programs.

Blair Horner is the Legislative Director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

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