Nations Join Forces to Combat Illegal Tobacco Trade reports Cigarette Affiliate Program

(prHWY.com) November 29, 2012 - California, CA -- San Francisco, CA- A treaty signed by representatives of 176 nations is designed the growing illegal

trade of tobacco globally.

Known as The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products grew out of a meeting of the World

Health Organization on November 12, the treaty aims to standardize efforts by the participating nations

against the illegal trade through the control of the supply chain and improved cross-border law

enforcement.

All countries are affected by the illegal tobacco trade. According to a report by the International

Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, at least â‚¬32 billion in tax revenues are lost annually

worldwide. It is estimated that 11.6% of the worldwide cigarette market comes from illegal sources.

Sunel Tobacco Company CEO Noyan Gurel said that the illegal tobacco trade represents both an economic

and public health issue.

"The elimination of all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products and the creation of a global tracking

system constitute an essential component for the fight against illegal and counterfeit trade of such

products," Gurel said. "It will serve both the public health requirements as well as the protection of

the rights of registered tobacco companies."

According to Gurel, one of the goals of the increased cross-border law enforcement is to hopefully

disrupt the cash flow to the organizations behind the illegal tobacco trade.

Nations that have issues with illegal tobacco being moved include Turkey, which represents about 10.5%

of the illegal tobacco market. Illegal tobacco products usually enter Turkey from either the Russian

Federation or Northern Iraq.

However, through increased enforcement measures initiated in 2011, more than 1.6 million packages of

illegal tobacco had been confiscated through August of this year, the Turkish Ministry of Customs and

Trade reports.

Other countries that joined the initiative and have huge black market tobacco sales include Macedonia,

Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, whose cigarette black market in cigarettes represented more than 14% of

the national total trade in tobacco in September, according to Novel Research, a Bucharest-based

research firm.

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