Geneva, Switzerland.  Official representatives of some 130 countries wrapped up talks in Geneva today on a new treaty, the Illicit Trade Protocol, to curb the smuggling, counterfeiting, and illicit manufacturing of tobacco products. The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) – a group of over 300 civil society organizations – congratulates the participants on the spirit of cooperation that enabled them to make progress this week, but also urges them to continue to keep their purpose and common cause in mind as work on the treaty continues and the death toll from tobacco steadily increases.

“Illicit trade of tobacco products undermines countries’ ability to protect the health of their citizens and deprives national coffers of many billions of dollars of tax revenue,” said Laurent Huber, Executive Director of the FCA. “By agreeing to move forward on all of the key measures necessary to stop these illegal activities, the nations have made a promising start in addressing an international problem that requires international cooperation to solve.”

A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that one billion people will die from tobacco use this century unless current trends are reversed. The WHO also says that half the people that smoke today, about 650 million people, will eventually by killed by tobacco.

At this week’s negotiations – convened by the WHO – the FCA recommended to the participating nations that they retain important measures for addressing the illicit trade of tobacco products like cigarettes in the evolving text of the Protocol. These measures include international cooperation on investigation and prosecution of illicit trade cases, systems for tracking and tracing tobacco products, criminalization and increased penalties for illegal activity, and enhanced law enforcement.

The Protocol is being negotiated as a subsidiary agreement to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the international tobacco control treaty under which Parties agree to implement proven measures to address the rising global tobacco epidemic.

Tobacco products available from smuggling and counterfeiting operations undermine nations’ legitimate efforts to raise the price of these products. Raising prices of tobacco products through measures such as increased taxes is the most effective means of helping people to quit using them or keeping them from starting. Illegal trade also deprives national coffers of up to US$50 billion per year in lost tax revenue.

Earlier this week, the results of an investigation into illicit trade in the Balkan states were announced. The investigation uncovered links from the illicit trade of cigarettes to corrupt public officials and organized crime organizations.

Parties to the FCTC will meet at least once more this year to move forward in negotiations on the Illicit Trade Protocol, with further sessions planned before it is finalized and adopted in late 2010. The negotiating process for the Protocol is being conducted under the auspices of the WHO.

Mark Hurley, Framework Convention Alliance, +1 202 460 2679 (in Geneva)

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GENEVA (AP) - About 130 countries have begun negotiations on a treaty to fight large-scale tobacco smuggling, which is blamed for encouraging smoking, officials of the World Health Organization said Friday.

An initial five-day meeting this week helped present the scope of the problem that is costing governments billions of dollars in lost taxes and undermines efforts to prevent smoking-related diseases, said Ian Walton-Georges, who chaired the gathering under the auspices of WHO.

The sponsors hope to have a treaty completed by 2010. It would be an addition to an existing anti-smoking treaty, the 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which has 152 state signatories.

Walton-Georges said there was widespread agreement that a new legally binding treaty is needed, but countries have to work out details, including how to stop smugglers from getting cigarettes and how to impose tougher sanctions against criminals.

But campaign organizations said an exception was Japan, which insisted that any treaty had to be in line with existing international trade agreements and could not go beyond domestic laws.

Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International, a Boston-based campaign group, said she suspected that the Japanese position was related to the Japanese government's 50 percent stake in Japan Tobacco International, the world's third largest international tobacco maker.

Often "legally traded tobacco ... is diverted into the illegal channels," Walton-Georges said.

Customs authorities seize large amounts of smuggled cigarettes, but it is mostly unclear who is behind the smuggling and what transport routes are used.

Illegal tobacco trade accounts for about 10 percent of global tobacco sales and costs governments between US$40 billion (euro27 billion) and US$50 billion (euro34 billion) in lost tax revenue per year, according to the Framework Convention Alliance, a coalition of more than 300 campaign groups.

New rules should make tobacco smuggling less attractive, said campaigner Mulvey. "That would include penalties for manufacturers when they're shown being complicit in this (illegal) trade," she said.

The European Anti-Fraud Office estimates that one container load of 10 million cigarettes had an average tax value of US$2 million in the European Union last year.

Smuggled cigarettes are cheaper than legal products on the market, giving smokers less incentive to quit smoking and encouraging young people to start, campaign groups say.

The WHO in a report last week said that 5.4 million people die every year from lung cancer, heart diseases and other illnesses stemming from tobacco smoking. It warned that the tobacco epidemic could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking.

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