Scant evidence EU tobacco deal curbed smuggling

Brussels – According to the Commission, EU member states reported that they seized 4.5 billion cigarettes in 2005, and 3.1 billion in 2013. In a 2013 report to the parliament and national capitals, the commission said that the agreement with Phillip Morris International(PMI), and three others like it with the other big tobacco companies, “have clearly led to a significant reduction in the presence of these companies’ products on the illicit market”.

In 2011, the share of seized cigarettes with “other brands”, i.e. brands from companies that don’t have an agreement with the EU, reached 58 percent.But a decreased share of PMI’s cigarettes in seizures does not automatically mean an absolute decrease in smuggled goods, just as that a rise in police reports does not directly prove an increase in crime.
 

https://euobserver.com/investigations/131266