The Indonesian Customs and Excise Directorate General wants to lower the share of unlicensed cigarettes after seeing a surge in the illicit products during the coronavirus pandemic, reports The Jakarta Post.
The goal is to bring the market share of illegal cigarettes below 3 percent, down from the 4.8 percent seen in 2020, according to Customs and Excise Director General Askolani. “[With the operation] we are conducting this month and next month, we hope we can reduce it to below 3 percent.”
Customs estimates show that illegal cigarette market share had dropped to 3.03 percent in 2019 before increasing recently.
RELX has launched in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The e-cigarette brand is already available in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait—and has further plans to expand into the wider Middle East and northern Africa (MENA) region this year.
The Kingdom has announced new regulations, similar to those set across Europe, following the standard setup for e-cigarette packaging and labeling, which was introduced in September 2020.
“The MENA region is one of our category’s fastest-growing markets, growing at a rate just short of 10 percent until 2024,” said Fouad Barakat, KSA general manager at RELX International, in a statement. “Saudi Arabia is one of the region’s largest and most prosperous markets, hence the need for any brand to launch there if it wants to thrive and grow bigger.”
There are two products available: RELX Infinity and RELX Nano2.
“To strengthen our commitment and further highlight to stakeholders the seriousness of our smoke-free ambitions, we wish to link our most material sustainability priorities to our financing,” said Emmanuel Babeau, chief financial officer, in a statement. “We believe that a business transformation-linked financing framework not only helps reinforce our commitment to reinvent our company but will also allow investors and lenders to engage with and support our industry-leading transformation as we work to accelerate the end of smoking and use our strong capabilities to develop products that go beyond nicotine and have a net positive impact on society.”
The framework outlines the guidelines that PMI will follow in issuing business transformation-linked financing instruments in the debt capital and loan markets, which may include public notes offerings, private placements, loans and other relevant financing instruments.
The key performance indicators (KPIs) selected for the framework directly measure and respond to the focus of PMI’s sustainability and corporate strategy and the company’s most material sustainability topic: addressing the health impact of its products.
The framework includes two sustainability performance targets (SPTs), with an observation date of Dec. 31, 2025: Increase PMI’s full-year 2025 smoke-free/total net revenue percentage to more than 50 percent from the 2020 baseline of 23.8 percent; and increase the number of markets where PMI’s smoke-free products are available for sale to 100 markets by the end of 2025 from the baseline of 64 markets on Dec. 31, 2020.
The framework was validated by S&P Global Ratings, which provided a second party opinion (SPO). The SPO recognized the chosen KPIs and related SPTs as material, measurable, ambitious, regularly reported and externally verified—in line with the June 2020 Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles administered by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the May 2021 Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles administered by the Loan Market Association (LMA). The SPO is also available on the PMI website.
“The framework builds on our genuine commitment to transform,” said Jennifer Motles, chief sustainability officer, “reflecting: a Statement of Purpose issued by the Board of Directors; concrete KPIs for reporting and compensating executives on that purpose (Business Transformation Metrics); business transformation-linked financing instruments tied to targets for select KPIs; and transparent, periodic disclosures on our progress through integrated reporting. I hope this can serve to inspire something bigger within our industry and set an example for other industries also undergoing transformations.”
Geekvape officials at the signing ceremony for an intelligent manufacturing industrial park in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Photo: PRNewsfoto/Geekvape)
Geekvape will invest CNY10 billion ($1.55 billion) in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) with the support of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.
Over the next two years, the Chinese e-cigarette company plans to build a modern industrial park for intelligent manufacturing that will help customers address their needs for increased production capacity.
Geekvape says it will be the first vapor company to build modular intelligent manufacturing facilities. By leveraging a connected intelligent manufacturing platform, the Internet of Things technology and big data, Geekvape says it will further improve product quality and services.
“Geekvape has always been committed to helping improve human well-being and community development,” said Geekvape CEO Allen Yang in a statement.
“Benefiting from the ideal economic, geographical and business conditions in the GBA, in tandem with the momentum in the intelligent manufacturing sector, we will build on our presence in the area to expand globally. Geekvape will provide our customers across over 70 countries and regions with better products and services enhanced by intelligent manufacturing and innovative technologies.”
Philip Morris International considered selling its Marlboro business to exit the cigarette industry, CEO Jacek Olczak told The Daily Mail.
In the end, however, the company decided to keep the business to help finance its growth in “wellness” products, according to the British tabloid.
“Yes, we had this discussion [about selling Marlboro]. Our conclusion was, if we retained cigarettes, actually it would accelerate our journey [from traditional tobacco revenues] because I can allocate resources,” Olczak was quoted as saying.
According to Olczak, three-quarters of PMI’s resources go to finding cigarette alternatives.
Olczak’s comments come as PMI faces a growing backlash from health campaigners over its plans to buy British inhaler company Vectura. Earlier this month, the board of Vectura said it would support PMI’s £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) takeover offer after the cigarette manufacturer had outbid private equity firm Carlyle.
Medics and health experts have warned that the deal could spoil Vectura’s key contracts and government grants. A group of 35 health experts wrote an open letter earlier this month saying a takeover by the tobacco company would “significantly hamper” Vectura’s strategy of operating as a research-focused pharmaceutical company.
PMI has said its bid for Vectura is part of its shift from cigarettes to a “smoke-free” future where it sells less harmful e-cigarettes and “wellness” products. The cigarette manufacturer aims to generate 50 percent of its income from smoke-free products by 2025.
Philip Morris needs more than 50 percent of shareholders to support its Vectura bid by Sept. 15.
KT&G President and CEO Bok-in Baek (center) with new hires during a company recruitment celebration. (Photo: KT&G)
KT&G has received Equal Salary Certification, making it the first listed Korean company to do so.
This certification verifies that the company implements an equal wage policy for employees with the same qualifications regardless of gender and provides opportunities such as recruitment, evaluation and promotion in an open and fair way. Accredited by the European Commission, it is a certification system organized by the Equal Salary Foundation, a nonprofit foundation in Switzerland.
KT&G decided to obtain the certification in order to have its personnel system, including wage policy, officially verified according to the objective standards of an independent professional institution and to use this as a starting point for advanced human rights management. To obtain the certification, the company underwent a rigorous screening process for about five months.
With this certification, KT&G has been recognized for having a fair personnel system based on an equal wage policy and systematic human rights management. Specifically, recruitment is operated blindly for the purpose of competency-based, nondiscriminatory selection, and evaluation and promotion are conducted through fair procedures such as interviews, an objection system and a promotion review committee rather than by way of notification. Also, to enable employees to balance work and family life, the company has paid leave systems such as maternity leave and parental leave of up to two years per child, childcare allowances and support for fertility treatment expenses for supporting childbirth and childcare.
Meanwhile, KT&G was selected as Korea’s best job creator and work-life balance provider by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and was certified as an excellent family-friendly company by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, having proven its efforts to communicate with employees and develop a fair and open HR system.
“This equal wage certification is the result of the company and its employees developing human rights management policies through active communication,” said Bok-in Baek, president and CEO of KT&G, in a statement. “KT&G plans to continuously develop inclusive and fair policies for all employees to strengthen the company’s fundamental competitiveness.”
Example of a fake RELX website selling unofficial RELX products
RELX International has warned consumers against purchasing its products through unofficial or unlicensed websites. “It has recently come to the attention of RELX International that a number of unlicensed persons or companies are attempting to profit off of the good and responsible reputation of the RELX brand in a number of markets, including Australia and Philippines,” the company stated in a press release.
“In addition to selling unlicensed and potentially fake products, these websites and social media channels have been disseminating a variety of unfounded claims about our products or e-cigarette products in general. RELX International only provides science-based information about our products and only sells products to adult smokers or vapers. Furthermore, RELX International never uses any cartoons or ‘kid-friendly’ images or videos in our branding.
“RELX International established the Golden Shield Program in 2019 to help prevent the production and sale of illicit e-cigarette goods such as those mentioned above. With the goal of safeguarding adult e-cigarette users’ right to access quality products, members of RELX International’s Golden Shield Program utilize large amounts of data and other technologies to track down illicit e-cigarette products sold online and offline. The Golden Shield team actively works with online social media platforms, online e-commerce platforms as well as Customs authorities to eliminate illicit vaping products from the market.
“The Golden Shield team has already helped authorities launch 28 criminal cases related to the illegal production and sale of illicit or copyright infringing e-cigarette products. Over 77,000 websites and over 6,000 social media accounts have been taken down due to the Golden Shield team’s efforts, and 550,000 illicit products have been removed from the market.
“Moving forward, we are committed to getting even more counterfeit products off the market.”
The release lists all the official RELX websites as well as provides an email address to confirm third-party websites that are selling authentic RELX products.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) reiterated its call for banning all flavored vapor products following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s denial of marketing applications for about 55,000 flavored e-cigarette products.
While welcoming the FDA decision, the CTFK noted the denial involved only a small percentage of the flavor products under review by the FDA.
“The FDA’s action covers just a fraction of the more than 6.5 million tobacco products for which the FDA has received marketing applications, and it does not include any e-cigarette brands with a significant market share or that are most popular with kids, such as Juul, the number one youth brand,” CTFK President Matthew L. Myers wrote in a statement.
“Today’s action will be effective in reversing the youth e-cigarette epidemic only if FDA also denies the applications for all flavored e-cigarettes (those with flavors other than tobacco) as well as high-nicotine products like Juul that put kids at risk of addiction.”
According to the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 3.6 million kids use e-cigarettes, including nearly one in five high school students. The CTFK blames flavored e-cigarettes for this situation. Eighty-three percent of youth e-cigarette users report using flavored products, and 70 percent of youth users say they use e-cigarettes because of the flavors, according to the organization.
“To protect our kids and end the youth e-cigarette epidemic, the FDA should not authorize the sale of any flavored or high-nicotine e-cigarettes,” wrote Myers.
The FDA must decide whether to grant marketing applications for e-cigarettes by Sept. 9.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to incorporate electronic nicotine-delivery devices (ENDS) into its proposed rulemaking to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, according to Azim Chowdhury and Neelam Gill.
Azim Chowdhury
Writing on the Food and Drug Law Institute’s website, the Keller and Heckman attorneys say that doing so would only further complicate a rulemaking that is already poised to receive hundreds of thousands of comments and will likely be litigated once final.
In its announcement, the FDA did not mention ENDs, which come in a wide variety of nontobacco flavors and have been the subject of much debate.
Chowdhury and Gill believe Congress is more likely to defer to the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process rather than intervene and legislate a flavored ENDS ban. All ENDS products require FDA marketing authorization through that process.
But while a federal ban on flavored ENDS seems unlikely while FDA reviews the science and the manufacturers’ arguments, these products continue to face the threat of prohibition at the local level, according to the attorneys.
Many state and local authorities and attorneys general are pushing for bans or have requested the FDA to deny PMTAs for flavored ENDS. New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have already banned the sale of flavored ENDS while Maryland, California and Connecticut are considering similar measures.
Paola Pocci (left) and Kim Reed (Photos: Imperial Brands)
Imperial Brands has announced two new appointments to its executive leadership team (ELT), effective Sept. 1, 2021.
Kim Reed, the leader of Imperial’s U.S. business ITG Brands, will join the ELT as president and CEO of the USA region, and Paola Pocci joins Imperial from Procter & Gamble (P&G) to take up the role of president of the Africa, Asia, Australasia region.
The appointments will support the company’s transformation and its strategic focus on meeting consumer preferences in its five priority markets.
Reed has a wealth of experience in the consumer goods sector and a successful track record in sales and executive leadership. She has led ITG Brands since June 2021, having joined the business as executive vice president of sales, in 2019 to design and oversee a sales transformation strategy.
Pocci has broad FMCG experience having held several business leadership positions across multiple geographies. She held a number of roles during an accomplished career at P&G, most recently as senior vice president of that company’s personal care beauty portfolio based in China.
Dominic Brisby
After more than 20 years and a successful career at Imperial, Division Director Dominic Brisby has chosen to leave the business in October.
“Both Kim and Paola are great additions to our senior leadership team and will strengthen our consumer-centric approach,” said Imperial Brands CEO Stefan Bomhard in a statement. “The appointment of Kim to the ELT reflects the importance of our U.S. operations now and the role it will play in our future success, and Paola brings significant experience of understanding geographically diverse consumers.
“Dominic has excelled in a variety of roles at Imperial, including as joint interim CEO for several months last year. He has given incredible support to me and the rest of the business, and I wish him all the very best for the future.”
The ELT was formerly known as “executive committee.”
