Cigarettes: MEPs oppose renewing EU anti-smuggling deals with tobacco firms

MEPs urge the EU Commission to use all possible EU and international legal tools to combat cigarette smuggling© AP Images/European Union – EP
A majority of MEPs urged the European Commission not to renew an EU anti-smuggling and anti-counterfeiting deal with Philip Morris International (PMI), which expires in July 2016, in a resolution voted on Wednesday. Instead, they ask it to focus on using EU and international legislative tools to combat smuggling.
MEPs note that the PMI deal proved ineffective because although it initially reduced smuggling, a surge in smuggled non-branded “cheap white” cigarettes soon filled the gap.
 

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20160303IPR16929/Cigarettes-MEPs-oppose-renewing-EU-anti-smuggling-deals-with-tobacco-firms