Revenues Martin Rogers at Dublin Port with one of the largest ever hauls, branded Excellence, of black market cigarettes recovered by Customs, October 2017. Niall Carson/Press Association. All rights reserved. Tobacco control oftentimes feels like battling Goliath. Even if five years have passed since the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco (FCTC) Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade on Tobacco was adopted to tackle the illicit tobacco trade, this tool still needs six more countries to ratify it in order to come into force. Big Tobacco is intent on keeping it this way.
On the face of it, cracking down on the sale of illegal tobacco should be a no-brainer. Not only is it a tremendous financial drain costing EU countries an estimated €10 billion in revenue each year, but it also undermines any policy attempt to discourage smoking by heavily taxing tobacco products. In the real world, however, logical arguments often lose out, especially since the tobacco industry itself has reaped billions from the parallel trade.
The list of countries that have so far ratified the protocol reveals both surprises and glaring absences. Swaziland, Burkina Faso, and Turkmenistan, countries not usually renowned for their commitment to social welfare and public health, have rushed to endorse the report.
