Firms Comply With Smuggling, WHO Says

The World Health Organization said there was compelling evidence that tobacco firms played a compliant role in global cigarette smuggling and that governments must hold them accountable.

In a report focusing on the trade in Iran and Iraq, the agency said smuggling allows multinational tobacco firms to sidestep trade restrictions while fueling consumption and pressuring governments to cut taxes. It also gives them entry to closed markets because it squeezes a state monopoly and forces the government to allow imports.

However, major European tobacco firms denied the claims, contending that smuggling harms them because many smuggled cigarettes are counterfeit.