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DRAFT MINUTES' 15TH META ME'ETI NG Dubai Intercontinentall'Hoteli October 20, 1992 Present: Mr. E. Aguilar - Brown & Williarnson (T3bst)~ Mr. G'. Nassif - Philip Morris (Chair coQnpany). Mr. B. Baroudi Dr. J~B' Boder Mr. R. Davies - B.A.T. (Treasurer) Mr. R. Galgut Mr. C. Dufty Mr. ~ M. Bel¢her ~ - Galliafier ~ International Lt~d. Mr. E. Tourna - R J Reyrnolds Mr. D. Pross. Mr. R. Hancock - Rothmans Exports Ltdi Mr. J. Bevan Dr. W.D. Rowland Mr. R. Allerl - META Secretary AlSo ~ present for Agenda Itemi XI Mr. R. Hawa - Memac, Dubai. Mr. JL Saadeh Mr. C. Taylor - 1Vlernac, Bahrain 1

A enda I. M'inutes of the 14th meeting, - July 21992, II. Matters Arising II I. META Administration 1. META Office 1992 Budget & Estimates for 1993. . 2. Registrationiof new parent company and newJebel! Ali office name. IV - VII. KEY ISSUES/THREATS A/1. Gulf Anti-smoking Symposium (Chair company's memorandum previously circulated)i A/2. Gulf Anti'~Sznoking Committee (Chair company's memorandum previously circulated). IV. husarketing Freedoms 1. UAE Voluntary Code (Chair company) 2: UAE: Dubai-Abu Dha,bi Road Hoardings 3. Chair Cbrnpany'spaper(October 5) on Industry Strategy 4. The lAA 5. Trademarks V. Product Regulations 1. Gulf Standards & Specifications - SASO draft. 2. SASO Upgrade Packages.

VIII - XI. KEY FUNCTIONS/RESOURCES VI'SI. Environmental Mbnit'oring/Early Warning IX. Information Man!agennent/Data Base X. Co-ordinating Industry Action. 1. Oimani: Gulf Standards Petition 2' Kuwait': Gulf Standards Petition 3. GCC Working Groups XI. Cornanuniaat'ions/MediaRelations 1. Direct placements/impact assessment 2. Itmmediate crisis management' 3. Verball overtures/prevention 4. Specialists'meetingswitln GCC'Journalists 5. Monitoring 6. Early warning XII. Any other business 1'. JTI & META 2. Composition of GCC Country Working Groups (also see IV/3) 3'.~ Pack labelling 4. Government of Kuwait XIII. Date of next meeting (RJR' to host)

Il Minutes of last meeting- July 2,,1'992 Item XII/: Japan Tobacco In principle META was readly to have JTI join META when JTI indicated it was ready. RJR was requested to provide more informationon JTI's position. Actiion:, RJR II. Matters Arising Dubai~ Municipality Duba2i Municipality had recently invoked local order no. 35 of 19888 concerning restrictions on promotiorrall raffles of ALL goods (not simply tobacco industry products). Article 6 of this lbcal order limits the number of raffles, whether per the importer or the d'2stribut'or or brand or retail organisation. This could be a restriction on some of the activities which META companies might like to promote. The chair company was pursu2ng the matter through the IAA and the DC & TBP (Dubai Cbnnimerce & Tourist PromotionBoard): The president of the UAE Chapter was due to write to the Head of the Dubai Municipality Licensing, Dept., Mr. Mohammed Al"Mul2aL It was hoped that the DC & TBP would also intervene successfully. It was stressed that the order dbes not only affect tobacco companies ajnd was not triggered by anti-industry sentiment. Action: Chair cornpany & Mr. Allen. 4

III. META Adrninistration META Office 1'992 Budket & Estimates for 1991 The Treasurer indicated the following: a/i) META would revert to the Calendar year for budget purposes and cease to base the budget on a Feb 1 - Jan 31 year.. a/ii) The cost of the upgrade packages for SASiO would be met from this year's estlirnatedl surplus and' if extra was neededi the Secretzrv wouldl advise the Treasurer: a/i'2i) The contingency item for May 1993 included provision for META financing another upgrade package. a/iv) Dh. 8,000 p.m. was to be the upper limit for the offace secretary for 1993: a/iv) BAT wantedl to hand over the Treasurer role as of 1'/1/93: Eothmans indicated they would take over the role of Treasurer Company. Registration of New Parent Cornpany & New Jebel Ali Office Name The Secretary reported all documentation had been processed andi okayed. The lease had been amended to, register the : new nam ~; of Middle East Tobacco Association Ltd. b) Mr. Allen was asked to look into the new Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority regulations whiichi allowed for Free Zone companies to operate as independent entities without the need'o to register an overseas parent. ('Please also see MEED/Clifford Chance Dubai article attached at the end of these minutes.). ActS+on: Mr. Allen 5

W - VII Key Issues/Threats A/ 1) Gulf Anth -Ssnoking_Symposium. This was held once every two years. It groups all the GCC~ anti- smoking societies plus invitees from WHO and its affiliate EMRO (Eastern Mediterranean Regional Organi5ation). Bahrain, the host country, had stressed that the major issue would be work-place smoking bans. There was definitely ai threat in a recommendation of this kind because once adopted by the GCC Health Ministers' Council, such a resolution could welt persuade many private, quasi-publiic and public sector offices to impose bans if onlyt~oprojecta, good image of'thiernselveswith:, theauthorities. This had already happened in the cases of Bahrain TelleconumunieaRions Cbmpany„ Bahrain: Petroleum Company and other semi-autonomous agencies. The symposium had the blessing of the GCC Health Ministerial Council. It did not have executive or legislative functions but it did have considerable lobbying influence. A/2) The Gulf Anti-Smoking Committee The anti-smoking committee had a more official identity since it, comprised t'he under-secretaries andi assistant und6r-secretaries of each G'CC country and if'they made reconumendations, these would be taken up at fwll' ministerial level. T'he list of other proposed'bans had been, identified by the chair company ini its October 6 paper. An ad ban would have to be decided on and confirmed by a10 six. GCC' Ministries of Information, but the ant2,smoking committee could reconunend enforcement of lower MCLs. Apart frorn the public-smoking and work-place smoking bans, thee committee could try to enforce uniform compliance with date- coding as laid down in the GCC Standards.

In add2tioni the host country of the fulU GCC Health Ministers' - meeting, in January could take the initiatiue to demonstrate it was "leading, the way", by iQnposing unilateral restrictions as Qatar had done last January with Law No. 1/'1,992. It was to this Anti-Smoking Committee that META should make a submission. From this, committee,t'lielowest leveli at which thefinst representation would be made, META could make further submissions to different bodies, including more friendly individuals, leading up to the GCC Ministers' and Heads of States' meetings in December/January. Agreed: One page of key arguments on each of the four main issues: Ad Bans Public smoking Date-coding, MCLs would be drafted and submitted - within a week - to individuals in Bahraini as appropriate by the chair company. Action: The Chair company and Mt. Allen: IV. Marketing Freedoms 1) -- UAE Volunt'ary Code The entire range of Voluntary Codes of Behaviour was being, extended world-wide so that a new consensus was needed to find a commonn language, which could also be tailored to fit the UAE and subsequen;tly other GCC countriies. The chair company distributed a draft of the proposed code which ind'ividualMETAco~mpanies wereasked', to have cleared by their legal departments. The consensus was to seek a reasonable uniform standard as a basis applicable to each GCC' country in which META companies operatedl 7 aC .?' .'frr,.J~.t

A'_E..reed; 1)~ On the~~ need'i for a~ Voluntary Code of Behaviour~ for~ each~ country. On a preference for two basic documents to comprise the Code: basic & generic covering, sensitive iterns where the! industry needs to eorrect its image. This basic & generic document to be made avaiilable as and when necessary, - and subject to META's unanimous agreernent - to public authorities, an in-house document reflecting the spirit and goodwill intra-industry. 3) Ini the meantime META would abide by the Code existing, as at the last July 2' meet2ng pending company lawyers' comments oni the changes as requested by the chair company and contained in the draft circulated at the meeting. Action: META companies to press their lawyers for comment and' clearance of the draft by December 15, 1992. UAE: Dubai-Abu Dhabi Ii;oadl Floard'ans It was re-eznphasisedl that~ the UAE AssistantHealthUnder-5ecretary, had particularly stressed the Health Ministry's objection tol the tobacco hoardings on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi road - as opposed to any or all other roads in the Emirates. Any discussion within META concerning other roads rested on how far the industry was prepared to go in rnaking, concessions, but this was another matter outside: the present context: - Agreed: To stick to the Jianuary 1993' date for the final removal of all META company hoard'ings on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi road.. Action: RJR Chair cornpany's paper of October 5 on "GCC Marketing Ereedoms - Industry Strategy" META companies unanimously applauded the objectives and stratiegv of the chair company's paper. 8

Agreed: i) To press ahead with finalising indhstry self-regulatory, instruments using locall groups - as discussed! at the Fiield! Managers' meeting the previous day - acting under the META umbrella~ to pursue self- regulation. ii) Lead companies of locall groups to be set up in each GCC country ('See XII below), iii) All new tobacco industry, members of the UAE chapter of the IAA were to be involved. iv) The same would hold for Biahrain and' other GCC IAA Chapters as and when these were set up.. Action: Mhr. Alden and others chosen from within META companies by their respective companies to purs e the objectives outlined in the October 5 paper. (See XII below): v) The IAA Overtures would be made to the new IAA world president Mr. Mustapha Assad to seek reassurances of his commitment to marketing freedoms of the tobacco1 industry as a whole, and'within the GCC of Mrs. Loula Zaklama as vice-president and regional director of the Middle East & Africa. Action: ACothmans~ Trademarks Agreed: i) To pursue violators of' Trademarks and manufacturers of fake goods. ii) To focus particularly on those violations whiich damage the industry in the context of tobacco and' youth: Action: AlI META companies 9

V. Product Re2ulatiions. Gulf Standards & Specifications - SASO Draft a) The Omani and Kuwait industry submissions had' been delivered. An indirect invitation to comment had been received from Bahrain's Directorate of Standards & Metrology at the Ministry of Commerce & Agriculture, and a draft submission prepared. This would be circulated by companies' comments: & approvalL No: dieadline~ had~ been stipulatedl b)I There remained subm2ssions to be draftedlfor Qatar and the UAE. The chair company pointed out that previous experience suggested META should draft a submission before companies or distributors were formally invited. This was being prepared by the chair company. SASO Upgrade Packages - FILTRONA i) A firrml order had been placed by the Secretary and delivery time requested for maximum 12 weeks, ii) The consensus was that rather than try to get the import duty waived, META should seek to prevail on SASO to speed up its testing, and to turn the stock round more quickly. SASO wass currentlyt~aking 40 days to test new and existingbrand'sg iii) Also SASO was to be urged t'o improve its communication with the~ industry. iv), The net result for META companies ini view of 2 & 3 above was that old stock was sitting around in the market. 'T'hie chair company added there had been a, meeting,of the GCC Standardss technicall commirttee; but that tobacco~ had na been on the agenda. Agreed: Mr. Allen to draft a letter to Dr. Khaled Al-Khalaf and clear it with the chair company before circulating it to all META companies for signature. Action: Mr. Allen followed by aff META companies. 10