European Commission: Conflict of interest between senior official and tobacco industry

Green MEP Michèle Rivasi has written an open letter to denounce the "revolving door" practices between European Union bodies and the tobacco industry. The cause: a senior official of the European Commission, with ties to a key company for the tobacco industry, who soon after found himself director of regulatory affairs for the same company.

The open letter, published on the MEP's website, is addressed to the European Union Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, asking her to investigate this "highly problematic case of conflict of interest".[1].

The selector hired by the selected company

According to Michèle Rivasi, a former senior official of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health, Jan Hoffmann, was in charge of developing the system for selecting the actor chosen by the European Union on the issue of traceability, particularly for tobacco products. Jan Hoffmann was also in charge of evaluating the effectiveness of this service provider. Just a few months after the senior official left DG Santé, he was hired by the same service provider, Dentsu, as director of regulatory affairs.

A traceability player linked to the tobacco industry

Beyond the "revolving door" practices raised by this hiring of the civil servant with the selected service provider, the latter's activities raise the question of the influence of the tobacco industry in European public decision-making. Indeed, it appears that Dentsu is linked directly and indirectly to the tobacco industry. On the one hand, Dentsu bought the company Blue-Infinity, which specializes in digital technology and is closely associated with the tobacco industry. On the other hand, the company, in its communications sector, also counts the manufacturer Japan Tobacco International among its clients. The obvious links between Dentsu and the cigarette manufacturers, such as the transfer of the senior official of the European Commission to the traceability company, raise the question of the independence of public decision-making with regard to the influence of the tobacco industry.

This situation is all the more problematic since the European Union has claimed that the system it is putting in place is in line with the WHO protocol for combating illicit trade in tobacco products. Thus, the criteria for legal independence put in place by the European Union do not appear to be sufficiently effective.

The tobacco industry involved in parallel markets, both legal and illegal

The problematic attribution of traceability to an actor closely linked to the tobacco industry may also raise questions in light of the essential nature that this subject represents for cigarette manufacturers. Indeed, the tobacco industry is involved in supplying legal parallel markets, through the deliberate oversupply of markets such as that of Luxembourg, in reality intended for French cross-border smokers. But the tobacco industry is also involved in facilitating and organizing global illicit trade, including in conflict zones, such as West Africa. It is precisely for this reason that the World Health Organization Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, ratified by France and the European Union, requires Parties to set up a monitoring and tracing system that is rigorously independent of the tobacco industry.

FT

[1] Michele Rivasi, Dentsu Tracking / Jan Hoffman case: an emblematic case of conflicts of interest?, 28/10/2022