Court cancels Pakistani government's contract with tobacco industry

Effective measures to combat illicit trade in tobacco products include controlling the supply chain, including establishing a system for tracking and tracing products. The WHO protocol, to combat the illicit trade in tobacco products, provides that this system be strictly independent of the tobacco industry, the latter having been repeatedly involved in the organisation of trafficking[1] and having an interest in keeping control of these parallel markets[2]. Pakistan has ratified this protocol and has engaged in a tendering process in recent years to set up such a system. However, following pressure and manipulation of the tendering process to favour the candidate working with the tobacco companies, the court was called upon. It has just annulled the government's decision to grant a licence to the consortium, National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) - Inexto, linked to the tobacco industry. This judgment highlights in particular the weight of the interference exercised within the government itself so that the consortium NRTC - Inexto acting in defence of the tobacco companies was selected even though the text of the WHO Protocol prohibits such an option. The Ministry of Finance was particularly targeted and the court decision establishes how much it unlawfully favoured the candidate NRTC - Inexto and allowed it to modify its offer, in particular to change the price, even though the tender had been completed. Similarly, the Ministry of Justice itself was criticized for easily giving in to pressure and radically changing its position in this case, ultimately arguing that there was inappropriate case law to legitimize the process tainted with irregularity. The court ruling overturned the government's decision, which must launch a new call for tenders. The stakes are high for public health and the finances of countries faced with the problem of contraband. The situation in Pakistan, a country that has ratified the WHO protocol, is particularly scrutinized because it constitutes an indicator of the weight of the tobacco industry and the risks of its interference in the public policies of countries. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] https://www.generationsanstabac.org/actualites/collusion-du-cigarettier-philip-morris-avec-des-agents-des-douanes-en-italie/ [2] Tob Control. 2019 Mar;28(2):127-140. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191. Epub 2018 Jun 13. Tobacco industry's elaborate attempts to control a global track and trace system and fundamentally undermine the Illicit Trade Protocol. Gilmore AB^1,2, Gallagher AWA^1,2, Rowell A^1,2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29899082 ©National Committee Against Smoking |