Ness Motley Documents
A General Briefing on INFOTAB
Fields
- Notes
Produced by: RJR
Affected Defendants: BAC, PMI, RJR, ITL, LGI, LOR, TII
- Type
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- some bates illegible
- Named Organization
- Belgium Journal
- NC
- USA
- National Manufacturers Association
- Named Person
- Reemtsma
- Rothmans
- Burrus, F.
- Lausanne
- Switzerland
- Durham
- York, New
- Tiedemanns, J.
- Tobuksfabnk
- Oslo
- Norway
- Members, Allied
- Stockholm
- Corner, R.
- Verkerk, H.
- Africa, Middle East
- Original File
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- INFOTAB
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- OK-AG
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A
GENERAL BRIEFING
ON
INFOTAB
April 15; 1985

A GENERAL BRIEFING ON INFOTAB
CONTENTS
Origins
Charter
Membership
Board of Directors
Secretariat Organization
Information Services
Consultants
External Links - the Network
Information Services
Processing of Information and C~rcu]ation
Conference Calendar & Events Monitoring
Special Requests/Responses for Submissions
Library
Computerized Database
Information Officers' Workshop
Paras.
1-'2
3
4--7
8
9
I0
ii
12-13
14
15-16
17
18-19
2O
21-22
23

- 2 -
Reference Material
o Smoking Issues Status Book (SISB)
o Issues Binder
o International Tobacco Science Information
Servibe
o Industry Guides to Communications
o Industry in Action Binder
I~:~%DVISORY SERVICE AND WORKSHOPS
Advisory Service to Members
Annual International Workshop
Annual Regional Workshops
Taxation
Economic Impact
Marketing Freedoms
Social Acceptability - Social Costs and Values
Social Acceptability - "Passive" Smoking
Ad Hoc Meetings on Developing Countries' Issues
24-29
30
31
32
33-36
37-40
41-44
45-46
47-52
53-58

- 3 -
V MAJOR OPPONENTS
APPENDICES
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Introduction
~O
UICC
The International Organization of consumer
unions (Iocu)
World Conference on Smoking and Health
Infotab Charter
Annual Dues Schedule for Associate &
Allied Members
o Associate Members
o Allied Members
Board of Directors
Infotab Staff
Lead Companies
59-60
61-63
64-67
68
69
App. A
App. B
App. C
App. D
App. E
April 15, 1985

A GENERAL BRIEFING ON INFOTAB
FORMATION AND STRUCTURE
Origins
ICOSI. This
~ International
....... ~:!~!~i!~ n t e r n a t i o n a 1
.... ~hort.
When the organization was originally formed in 1979 it was
called the "International Committee on Smoking Issue~" or
n~me was subsequently
changed to the
Tobacco Information
Centre"/"Centre
d'Information du Tabac" or
INFOTAB for
~i~ii~!i~i~i~w i t z e r i a n d with a branch office in Brussels, Belgium,
:~::~.ii~.:.:::i~his has been in the name of INFOTAB since December 1980.
3. ''""~"~NFOTAB's Charter was published, as the law requires, in
~he official Be] gian Journal. Here are a couple of
extracts from the Charter which gives a clear view of what
~'".~::::~ h e organization' s founders perceived to be its broad
~.,purpose. The full Charter is included as Appendix A.
~:{::.:..........,.x~{~
":~::~::" "...The establishment of a forum for exchange of
views and information on international tobacco
issues (to ~nclude tobacco and health) , by the
co-ordination of data and information in economic,
scientific ~nd technical areas. The general
objectives are to broaden the knowledge of its
meters, of consumers and of appropriate
authorities. "
"In large part, accomplishment of these objectives
will be sought by providing information to various
national and other tobacco trade associations and
by serving as a source of expertise, data analysis
and opinion on those subjects of interest to the
industry and its public".

Men~bersh ip
There are three categories of membership:
Founding Members
Associate MendDer s
Allied Members
5. There are six Founding Members :
BAT
I mpe r i a 1
Philip Morris
Re emt sma
R.J. Reynolds
Rot h m a n s
:~i:.[:.::~i:.i~::!::i:.::i:.i~::~:. ~: . is the Founding_ Members who constitute the Board of
~i~::i::~i~[~i~::i::!::~$ r e c t o r s (with one representative of
the Associate
........ ~mbership - see below).
6.~ There are four Associate Members :
F.J. Burrus SA Lausanne, Switzerland
Liggett Group Inc. Durham, North Carolina, USA
I0orillard New York, N.Y., USA
J.L. Tiedemanns
Tobaksfabrik
Oslo, Norway
The Associate Members have a voice on the Board of
Directors through one representative member company
their category, who is elected by all Associate Menders by
a secret mail ballot. Each Associate Member may send one
representative to the Infotab workshops, they receive
informational mail~ngs from the Secretariat and have
access to documentation in the Secretariat's Information
Services. The dues paid by Associa%e Members are nominal,
in relation to those of Founding }~en~ers, and are based on
a sliding scale formula related to annual sales turnover.

3
7. There are 40 Allied Members, made up of:
National Manufacturers' Associations 29
Leaf Dealers 10
Svenska Tobaks AB, Stockholm
A full list of Associate and Allied Members and their annual
dues Schedule is included as Appendix B.
Board of Directors
8 .... .~ii~he structure of the INFOTAB Board is that each of the
......... ~F:ounding Members provides up to two senior directors, and
~iii!!!!!!!i.lii~::ili~here is one representative of the Associate Members. The
i!!!!!!!!i.i~o s i t i o n of Chairman rotates among the companies each
:~-~::iii::iii:::.iMear, running from April Ist to March 31st. The Board of
~i~!~!i~!..~i r e c t o r s reviews progress and approves objectives and
~iii~ii~i:.::i!ii:.::!::~udgets. A list of the current Members of the Board is
!i::iiiiii!i!iiiiiii!i~i!n c i u d e d a s App e n d i x C.
........... ~-S~cretariat ,O_[rgani zatJ on
i:.: ~.~::::-::::~:,~
9.i~:~:':':~:':':::~:':':~here are four senior staff members. The Secretary General,
i!:"",.:~:i~iiii~yan Simpson, heads the organization and is
responsible
: : :::::::::~.:::~{
i!::':'::i:.i:.i::ii:.[:.i~:ii r e c t ] y to the Board of Directors. All these staff
..{~: ............ °~mbers.~ also carry a geographical responsibility, and the
...... ~::~i~i~:~ecretary General looks after Europe and North America.
As his Deputy, Richard Corner also looks after the Middle
East and Africa, while Hans Verkerk, Assistant Secretary
General oversees the Asian region as well as being
responsible for the Annual International Workshops and the
ad hoc meetings dealing with developing countries issues.
Anton~etta Corti, as well as being Director of Information
Services, ~.s responsible for the Latin American region.
A
full list of the Infotab staff is included in Appendix D.

Information Services
10. One of the primary objectives of Infotab is to maintain and
strengthen the full range of Information Services to all its
members. The largest department in the organization is the
Information Services Section. Working to the Director are a
Documentalist in charge of the library, two Analysts, a
Communications Assistant, an Information Analyst working
directly with the computer, and a secretarial staff of four.
The section accounts for ten people out of the total
Secretariat• strength of 18.
~ ""~onsultants
lllii!~!!~i[[~an addition to the permanent staff of INFOTAB, consultancy
~:~ .................. ~ervices are called upon when necessary and appropriate.
::~i~!i!ii~iiii~his, in addition to the help received from the member
ii:~:~:~:~:~:~:~ompanles, ensures that INFOTAB has available
to it
iiiiiiiiililiiiiiiii~i~pecialist services in all fields as required.
........ ~~xternal Links - %he Network
1211. ~he total current membership of INFOTAB is 50:
...... ~. Found~ ng Members 6
~ Associate Members 4
• ~!i~ililiiiii#/ Allied Members 40
Total 50
13.
However, when looking at the countries of the world there
are also what are called Lead Companies. A Lead Company is
an overseas subsidiary or affiliate of one of the Founding
Members, that agrees to act as INFOTAB's eyes and arm in
those countries where there is no National Manufacturers'
Association (NMA). There are 29 Lead Companies, who make a
valuable contribution in extending the network and bring the
total number of "outlets" to 79 in 57 countries. A ful~
list of Lead Companies is included as Appendix E.

I] INFO~TION SERVICES
Information Services
14.
The Information section PrqVides members with a variety of
general and tailor-made services: the Infoseries and
reference materials, assistance with analysis and
argumentation, monitoring of developments and events in the
legislative and anti-smoking areas, and a computerized
database which can be directly accessed by members.
..~.:.i.::#::~:~::!~::~rocessing of ]nformation and Circulation
l~:~:i~:!:.!:.i!:.~.:.ii~:~!:~ key function of the Information Services section is to
i::::ii!!!!!{i.!!!:.:.~ii'.i.l.a, na]yse, process and circulate information on all major
.~i~:#:i::i~i::i::~.~. u b i i c a t i o n s, events and activities related to tobacco.
::~!i!.::.:~.~i<~his entails considerable editing and translating skills.
::i~i~::i::i!ii~!ii~!~!i l~::i~ii~::iii~i~i!::i~n important vehicle for the distribution of
information is
:~!~ i::i~i~::~i~::~i~i~:~i : :~:~i::::::~ h e group of publications called the INFOSERIES
This
• "~:i!~:.::.': "
"
: which provides sug~aries of press coverage of
issues worldwide on a monthly basis.
: which reports on action by NM~s and Lead
Companies furthering the industry's
objectives or forestalling anti-smoking
actions.
INFODATE
: which reports on conferences and other events
affecting the industry.
INFOBRIEF
: which provides an analysis of individual
issues and trends.
q~ice a year an index is provided to cover all reports
issued in 1NFOTOPICS.

17.
Conference Calendar & Events Monitoring
Information Services also prepares and issues a calendar of
conferences and meetings which have some relevance to the
tobacco industry, and tries..to ensure that this listing is
as comprehensive as possible. They also make the necessary
arrangements t6 report on
monitoring arranged.
them through Infodate with
Special Requests/Responses for Submissions
18.~,~ii~:{::~:~::~!~n ever increasing number of special requests (over 300 in
ii984) are being received from members and require individual
...... iiiiii~.iesearch. These cover the full range of tobacco issues and
ii~:<~ ............. ~:~re satisfied both from within the resources available in
::~::i{::ii::::~::i~{4 F O T A B and also by calling on information from other
~:~::~::~::~::~ 19~::~::~:~t~ten such requests are to help in the formulating by the
........ ~:~::~::~cal NS~ or Lead Company of submissions to authorities on
...... ~~:~hch issues as advertising restrictions.
::~ h~brary
20.:~::~::~.he library ~s a central element as it is the store house of
.:~::.:.... .........
~::.., i~hformation. Within the library are over 1,000 reference
books on all issues related to tobacco plus the large
variety of newspapers and periodicals of which we take
nearly one hundred. The library contains all the au4io
visual material which is available to associations and
members of the industry and also keeps the original
documents which are currently abstracted and put on the
computer.
