Letter to the Chairman of the Sub-committee
from the Director, Europe, British American Tobacco
EXPORT BOND
At our meeting with the Committee on 12 January
2005, reference was made to the British American Tobacco initiative
in the fight against contraband—the Export Bond.
For the information of the Committee, we are
pleased to provide a short briefing[76]
on the basic concept of the Export Bond and the issues that it
is structured to address. We believe that the implementation of
an Export Bond system as a measure adopted by customs authorities
globally, would provide an effective means of addressing illicit
trade, and one that goes further than part measures such as product
tracking.
As part of our dialogue programme in respect
of this initiative we can advise the Committee that to date we
have shared the proposal with various organisations, governments
and individuals including:
The World Customs Organisation (WCO) HQ, Brussels
The WCO Regional Director for North Africa and
Middle East
— including a formal presentation at
its Regional Conference of 17 member countries
The South Africa Revenue Service
The WCO ASEAN Secretariat
The ASEAN Directors of Enforcement
The Singapore Customs Deputy Director General
The Department of Home/and Security, USA
The Alcohol, Tobacco and Trade Bureau, USA
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, USA
The Department of Justice, USA
The International Anti Counterfeit Coalition
The Transatlantic Business Dialogue
The Oceanic Customs Group
The Global Business Dialogue
Also, we have shared the details of the Export
Bond with each of the MOU signatories we have in Europe, the Middle
East and Africa—28 in total. In addition we have briefed
and secured support from other tobacco manufacturers notably Imperial,
Gallaher, Japan Tobacco and Altadis.
During 2005 we aim to continue discussing the
proposal with governments and organisations around the world that
are seeking to address the illicit trade problem. As a genuine
cross-border issue, reducing illicit trade requires cross-border
solutions and global action—which is why our approach is
international.
Should the Committee wish to have a more detailed
briefing on our Export Bond proposal we would be happy to make
our Head of Customs and Excise, Tobacco Operations available to
provide further information.
27 January 2005
76 See Annex. Back
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