A meeting of representatives of federal agencies held this Monday (4) in Brasília sought to detail actions to close the siege on the illicit trade in tobacco products in Brazil. The discussions took place at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) with the aim of evaluating the expansion of the protocol to combat irregularities that cause financial and health losses in the country.
Representatives from the National Cancer Institute (Inca), the Federal Police, the Federal Revenue Service and the Ministries of Defense, Justice and Public Security, and Foreign Affairs participated in the event.
Doctor Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, who is executive secretary of the National Commission for the Implementation of the Framework Convention on the Control of Tobacco Use and its Protocols (Conicq), said that it is the Brazilian government’s priority to eliminate the illicit trade in tobacco. “Smuggled cigarettes are easily accessible and are sold on the streets to children, teenagers and the low-income population. This is contrary to public health, in addition to there being no tax collection”, said the doctor, who is part of the advisory group to the Presidency of the Republic.
Monitoring
Doctor defends reinforcement of prevention and repression actions against the smuggling of electronic smoking devices – Joédson Alves/Agência Brasil
At the meeting, the police agencies tried to agree on strategies provided for in the protocol to carry out seizures with integrated work data. The doctor stated that it is necessary to permanently update the tracking and location system installed in cigarette factories, which allows products to be monitored by satellite.
“There is a national commission to implement this treaty. One of the highlighted themes is the strengthening of the government in actions to prevent and repress the smuggling of electronic smoking devices”, said Vera Luiza. In the doctor’s opinion, there is a need to reinforce this fight so that Brazil can drastically reduce the illicit trade in such devices.
Challenges
Vera Luiza highlighted that Brazil’s main challenges are the expansion of organized crime, the extension of borders and the tobacco industry, which amplifies data on illicit trade to put pressure on the government not to increase taxes. “There is work by the tobacco industry to try to sell electronics in a legal way because cigarette consumption is decreasing, not only in Brazil, but in the rest of the world.”
According to data presented at the meeting, tax collection on cigarettes is around R$8 billion, while spending on health, early retirement and palliative care for patients is around R$153 billion. “Currently, the illicit trade in tobacco products represents around 30% of the cigarette market in Brazil. The country, in fact, serves as a model for the rest of the world with its tobacco control actions.”
According to the general director of Inca, Roberto Gil, in a country that is a large producer and grower of tobacco, such as Brazil, it is important to track and control the entire production chain, from tobacco processing to manufacturing and marketing of products. “By combating illicit trade, we can resume a pricing policy that discourages the consumption of tobacco products.”
