Category: News This Week

The Geneva-based International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum says it wants to return a donation made to it by Japan Tobacco International, but JTI says it won’t take the money back, according to a Swiss Radio International report.

In November, international anti-smoking and health advocacy groups protested at the museum’s decision to accept a donation from JTI, saying that it did not fit well with the organization’s mission ‘to protect life and health and respect human beings’.

And last week, museum director, Roger Mayou, said his organization had made a mistake in accepting tobacco industry money for their $20 million renovation. JTI had pledged $150,000 to the project.

However, according to Saturday’s edition of the Tribune de Genève newspaper, JTI said in a statement that it refused to take back the donated money.

JTI was quoted as saying it “does not accept this unilateral termination or repayment of the amount allocated for the construction of the new museum, [an] amount given and accepted in good faith and at the express request of the Museum Foundation’.

The funds are currently blocked in an account overseen by the museum’s lawyer, and the museum has formally ended its partnership with JTI.

Meanwhile, the Geneva Red Cross, which had also accepted funding from JTI, in November saw no reason to ‘discriminate against a perfectly legal organisation’.

However, its president, Guy Mettan, told the Tribune de Geneve that the organization was considering terminating its partnership with JTI.

But he added that it would take the time to find other sources of funding in order not to have to lay off staff.

A UK clergyman has launched a new front in the war on smoking – by suggesting that cigarettes are renamed cancerettes, according to a story in the Coastal Scene newspaper.

The Rev Charles Mugleston, from Witnesham in the county of Suffolk, has launched a petition on the 10 Downing Street website and could have the issue debated in parliament if he gets 100,000 signatures within the next year.

“Having recently taken a burial service for a very fine man whose body was destroyed by lung cancer and seeing his wife, children and friends devastated – suffering much agony which could have been averted – I reflected on the situation,” he was quoted as saying.

“I came up with an idea which may help lessen the 100,000 – Statistic from Cancer Research UK – people who die every year in this country because of tobacco inhalation leading to lung cancer.

“The idea is very simple, and hopefully will prove effective. It is simply to rename cigarettes cancerettes – in the hope that it will make people think twice before they light up.”

Mugleston accepted that there was a steep hill to climb before he could get the petition debated – but hoped that the case would be taken up by smoking charities.

The Imperial Tobacco Group was due to host in London today an investor event focusing on the company’s strategies for sustainable growth and ‘delivering quality sales growth supported by cost and cash optimisation’.

Imperial said that, during the presentations, it would state its intention of growing dividends by at least 10 per cent a year in the ‘medium term’.

‘As announced in our Interim Management Statement on 30 January we are currently accelerating a cost optimisation programme designed to fund investments to support profit growth,’ Imperial said in a note posted on its website. ‘The presentations will also include an outline of this cost programme, which will realise some benefits in our current financial year. From October 2013 the programme will deliver further savings of around £300 million per annum by September 2018.’

Imperial said it would release its half yearly results on April 30 and confirmed that its full year results remained in line with its expectations.

Three members of the European Parliament have called for a more forceful Tobacco Products Directive than the one that will come into being if proposed revisions to the directive are put into effect, according to an Agence Europe story.

The three MEPs are: Cristian Silviu Busoi, of Romania, co-president of the MEP Heart Group; Alojz Peterle, of Slovenia, the chairperson of MEPs Against Cancer (MAP); and Nessa Childers, of Ireland, the vice chairperson of MAC.

The European Commission published its proposed revisions to the directive in December.

The European Parliament’s position in first reading is expected after the summer break.

The US Food and Drug Administration is replacing the head of its tobacco governance group with a former associate commissioner with ties to an anti-smoking advocacy group and a pharmaceutical company, according to a story by Richard Craver for the Winston-Salem Journal.

Mitch Zeller J.D. is due to become director of the Center for Tobacco Products on March 4, replacing Dr. Lawrence Deyton, who is stepping down to become a professor of medicine and health policy at George Washington University.

The FDA began regulating tobacco products and marketing in June 2009.

Five laws banning tobacco smoking in public places have been introduced during the past 10 years only to be largely ignored by Greek smokers; so the government has vowed to impose yet another crackdown, according to a story in the Greek Reporter quoting a Kathimerini newspaper report.

The Health Ministry’s general secretary, Christina Papanikolaou, has issued a circular calling for the intensification of checks at schools, hospitals, restaurants, bars and nightclubs by inspectors in charge of the implementation of a law introduced in 2010.

The new wave of inspections is expected to meet with opposition from entrepreneurs who argue that business, already hit by the financial crisis, will be further affected if the smoking ban is enforced strictly.

In November 2012, the Council of State ruled that the ban was in keeping with Greek law and the Constitution after 150 entrepreneurs and the Panhellenic Federation of Restaurants and Related Professions filed an appeal against it.

Despite that, the law continues to be ignored. Public workers, including those in post offices and government buildings, as well as police, doctors and bus drivers continue to smoke without the fear of their being fined.

Members of parliament also openly smoke in the building where they passed the ban, ignoring their own law.

The international agreement for establishing a Unified Patent Court (UPC), which was signed last week in Brussels, is expected to ensure the uniform applicability of patent law throughout the EU’s signatory countries.

According to a press note issued on behalf of the EU Council, the new court will avoid the occurrence of multiple court cases with regard to the same patent in different member states.

‘This will also prevent contradictory court rulings on the same issues,’ it said. ‘It will also reduce costs of patent litigation.

‘The UPC will be a court common to the contracting member states and thus subject to the same obligations under Union law as any national court.

‘It is an international agreement concluded outside the EU institutional framework…’

All EU member states signed up to the agreement, with the exception of Bulgaria, Poland and Spain. Bulgaria was preparing to sign once internal procedures had been completed, while Poland and Spain could sign at a future date.

Following the signing of the agreement, the ratification process by national parliaments can start. At least 13 member states will have to ratify the agreement for it to enter into force.

‘All the necessary decisions (designation of committees, budget, appointment of judges and president, recruitment of staff, facilities, etc.) should be adopted in a timely manner so as to enable the first registration of a European patent title with unitary effect in spring 2014,’ the press note said.

‘The Central Division of the Court of First Instance will be located in Paris (France) with specialised sections in London (United Kingdom) and Munich (Germany).

‘The UPC is the third element of the “patent package”. The two regulations establishing enhanced co-operation for unitary patent protection and its translation arrangements were adopted on 17 December 2012…

‘The establishment of a unitary patent system valid across the EU will contribute to an

increase in patent activity, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises. It will also contribute significantly to lowering the costs associated with obtaining a patent in the EU.’

Ireland’s revenue commissioners have rejected as inaccurate a survey claiming that the consumption of illicit cigarettes in the country rose to 28.2 per cent during 2012, up from 24.5 per cent during 2011, according to a story by Marie O’Halloran for the Irish Times.

The commissioners said the survey did not distinguish between illicit products and cigarettes legally imported by people arriving from abroad.

The latest available figures from Revenue and the Tobacco Control Unit of the Department of Health put consumption of illicit cigarettes at 15 per cent of total cigarette sales during 2011, about the same level that applied in 2010.

The survey, conducted by market researchers MS Intelligence for Irish tobacco manufacturers, showed Waterford had the highest level of illegal sales with one-in-three cigarettes being non-Irish duty paid.

The survey was conducted by collecting about 10,000 empty packs from 22 towns and cities between April 15 and May 5 2012, and again between October 26 and November 10.

The figures were weighted to reflect the national population, according to a statement by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers’ Advisory Committee.

The committee said the ‘shocking reality’ was that one third of tobacco consumed in Ireland during 2012 completely avoided excise and VAT.

The committee claimed the upsurge in the illicit market was a result of budget increases in December 2011.

The Japanese government is expected to offer for sale 333,333,200 of Japan Tobacco Inc’s common stock, according to a press note included on JT’s website earlier today.

This secondary offer comprises 141,666,600 international and 191,666,600 Japanese shares.

However, the final decision on the number of shares to be offered will be made by the shareholder, the Minister of Finance, on the pricing date, which will be between March 11 and 13.

The disposal of the shares was approved as part of the 2012 budget.

Meanwhile, JT’s board of directors today resolved to repurchase up to 118,000,000 of its common stock (6.20 per cent of the total issued shares, excluding treasury shares), or shares worth up to ¥250,000,000,000, through the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s off-auction, own-share repurchase system between February 27 and March 8.

The number of shares in each of the international and Japanese secondary offerings may be reduced in the event that JT decides to go ahead with the repurchase.

NewCo and Tabacos Venus (previously Interfumos) have signed a co-operation agreement for the marketing of all of the Brazilian tobaccos contracted by Tabacos Venus.

Interfumos changed its name to Tabacos Venus when it started negotiating to sell its factory at Venâncio Aires. The name of the factory’s new owner is due to be announced shortly, according to NewCo.

Tabacos Venus is to retain the farmer contracts and tobaccos of Interfumos, and the processing of tobacco will continue at the factory at Venâncio Aires.