§ David TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what discussions he has had on making the UK a cosignatory to the Anti-Contraband and Anti-Counterfeit Agreement and General Release reached on 19 July between the European Community, Philip Morris International and subsidiary companies; [185503]
(2) what recent discussions Her Majesty's Customs and Excise have had with (a) Philip Morris International, (b) British American Tobacco, (c) Imperial Tobacco and (d) Gallaher Group plc on the status of the Memorandum 192W of Understanding on the smuggling of tobacco products which these companies have with the Government; [185483];
(3) what discussions he has had with OLAF, the European Anti-fraud Office, concerning the agreement on tobacco smuggling recently reached between the European Council and Philip Morris International. [185486]
§ John HealeyHM Customs and Excise have Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher. As part of these, Customs meet regularly to discuss developments in the illicit market including the status of the MOUs.
Although Customs do not currently have an MOU with Philip Morris International (PMI), as their products have much less significance in either the licit or illicit UK tobacco market, they meet regularly to discuss developments in the illicit market.
The UK was not part of the European action taken against PMI in August 2001.
There have been no discussions on making the UK a co-signatory to the Anti-Contraband and Anti-Counterfeit Agreement.
§ David TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans there are to bring the Memorandum of Understanding on tobacco smuggling in line with the terms of the Anti-Contraband and Anti-Counterfeit Agreement and General Release reached on 9 July between the European Council and Philip Morris International. [185485]
§ John HealeyHM Customs and Excise have Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) in place with the main UK tobacco manufacturers, the first of which was agreed in July 2002. Since its peak in 2000–01, the illicit cigarette market has been successfully reduced by more than 2.5 billion sticks per annum and the incidence of UK manufactured cigarettes being smuggled into the UK has fallen markedly from about 75 per cent. of large seizures to 31 per cent. in 2002–03.
Customs regularly assess the size and composition of the illicit cigarette market in the UK and take the measures they consider will continue their successful strategy of reducing smuggling. We will assess the detail of the Anti-Contraband and Anti-Counterfeit Agreement and consider whether we would wish to become a co-signatory to the Agreement.