Tobacco Documents Online

'::!~ ==i'iI<I :': < BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO Copy Request Form Request Number: Organization: Physicians for a smoke free Canada 17 I Request Details Request Date: ...... .... !. ............................... . . .................. File Number: .... .~.~..~. ...... BoxNumber: ....... [-~--'~I ..... Page Range: First Page [ Last Page o %q ld_o Requested By: (Print Name).. Details below will be filled in by Depository Staff Only II Copy Details Copied By: .../~~.....~...~~.... ............... ... . . . ... Date: .... ~~.~Z~.. ............ Time:.../Z'.~...f¢~ .......... Jlt Copy Checked By: ................... ooeooeoeeemeeeeeoeoo • oD oooeoee=eJOeeQ e. Date: .................................... Time: ............................... III Delivery Details Checked By: ......................... ........... Date: .................... Sent By: .......................................... Date: ..................... BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

BRITISH-AMERICAN TOBACCO -~. ., "! "" ~ ~: D C~'~'/o° MEMORANDUM From E.A.A. Brue11 P.O. Ricketts To R.L.O. Ely Dr. R.A. Thornton// Miss A. Johnson Mrs. H. Honour Date Ref. WSH/GFT "3 APR 1986 W.S. Hi:I'T ................. ............ i| . 2nd Aprl"~'l'~--,-.,.-,---_ . . Please find attached a copy of aletter and report concerning the EEC anti-cancer campaign. As well as being sent to Mr. D. yon Specht it has also been sent to the following No Is: A. Cogels, France J. Marsh, Belgium F. van Vliet, Netherlands H. Schroder, Denmark J. Ticehurst, Spain • . ,,.a s C C BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

BRITISH-AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY LTD A membcrofthe B.A.T Industries Group [ .... I WSH/GFT - 3 APR 1986 ..... . o Z~s~ered O~ce: PO Box 4~2 Westminster House 7MiUbank Loudoa SWzP3JE Telephone: oz-22z z22.~ Telex: 2.7384 sAT'ros o .............. 2nd April 1986 Fi:,,: Hr. D. yon Specht BAT Ctgaretten Fabriken GmbH Postfact 30 06 60 D-2000 Hamburg 36 West Germany Dear I attach a copy of the official document which sumarises the conclusions of the EEC committee of experts on the fight against cancer. It was published pursuant to their first meeting on 18th/19th February 1986. Whereas the first proposals which appeared in December were set out as a balanced survey of problems and objectives and did not overemphastse the problem of smoking, the present document, particularly in the annexe, gives undue prominence to the tobacco aspect by asserting that it is "by far the most common carcinogenic agent in our environment" (Para 2.6 and para 1.1 of the annexe) and advocating its "elimination" (Para 2.8 and 1.1.2 of the annexe). Para 1.1.7. of the annexe requests the Commission to discourage the production, sale and use of tobacco material and stresses, inter al|a, a) the discontinuance of duty-free sales; b) exclusion of tobacco products from indices of cost of livtng; c) prohib|tton of all advertlsln9; and d) differential rates of taxation proportional to tar yields. a) discontinuance of duty-free sales of tobacco products. In my opinion the duty-free market for intra-Communlty travellers wtll ultimately disappear anyway but should have a number of years of profitable business ahead before that happens. The attack upon it could clearly be accelerated if the Colisston supports the proposals on health grounds. lncorpor~ed in L~doB N-m~ 74974 Cables: VchlcuJar Loadoa SWI C C~ C BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

b) exclusion of tobacco products from the cost of living indices tn Member States. The Inclusion of tobacco products in the U.K. index did not deter the U.K. Chancellor from increasing the tax by about twice the rate of Inflatlon. One could imagine what would happen to tobacco taxation in any Member State if the committee's proposal were adopted, despite the i11oglcalitN of the proposal from the pure statistical point of view! c) total prohibition on advertising. This would presumably tnclude sponsorship although it does not specifically s~y so. d) taxation proportional to tar content. Previous experience of that in the U.K. was not a happy one from either the manufacturers' or the government's point of view. This note follows the letter toyou of 27th March from Hr. Ely on the same subject. It represents perhaps the most dangerous and cohesive attack so far on the tobacco industry, in Europe at any rate, even in those markets where the health campaign has as yet had little effect. I will keep everyone informed of developments which are going to prove very difficult to counter effectively. Yours sincerely W.S. HILL European Affairs Adviser c.c. Messrs. E.A.A. Bruell P.J. Ricketts R.L.O. Ely Miss A. Johnson Dr. R.A. Thornton Hrs. H. Honour ATT. BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

Statler letter was also sent to A. Cogels, J. Ttcehurst, H.Schroder, F. vkn Vltet end J. Marsh b ! b.c.c. Mrs. H. Honour Mr. W. H111 Mr. D. Herbison Mr. P. Rlcketts Miss A. Johnson L Dr. R. Thornton Europe Department INFOTAB PA Execs. RLOL/GFT D. Thorpe/BATUKI Mr. D. yon Specht BAT Clgaretten Fabriken Gr~H Postfach 30 06 60 D-Z000 Hamburg 3b West Germany i i CR~.:':~" ~ ~ : "-6 i 1 - APR 1986 [ Fiio: .................. 27 March 1985 Uear bi=ter European Communl~ Campaign Agalnst Cancer hr. ~rue11 has askud ~ to write to you about thls campaign of whlch [ iN lure :ou are awar~. A rcport has been produced by us at Mtllbank, a copy of which ts cttachcd. You will s~= t~at a number of ideas are there on how wc could perhaps ~rief t~ v~op1~ w,o ,~y r~ve influenc~ on t~e ca~algn. As is stated in the r~port, we do r, ot knc~' how ~ch effect we can have, but believe that it is ~@crtant b~at ~ tak~ appropriate action. It ~y be difficult to find the ri~h~ contacts anO even more difficult to get them to spea~ on behalf of our industry. Nevunheless, there may l~ some that might appreciate information which tmy could present. I shall De attenoin~ the INFOTA~ Board ~e~in9 on bth Ap~1 at which this mtter will o= oiscuss=~. Our hope is t~a~ INFOTAB will give the matter impetus with the Ni.~s. W= will ~able our ~port and INFOTAJ~ mRLY send o~t s~nethln~ similar to your N~Uk. lhe purpose of UfiS lCttur is to ~sk you to support our initialtve wblch should be seen as coming from the tndustr~ as a whole not Just our company. Obviously any contacts that you personally can use or can recommend to your NMA will be much appreciated. If you have any guerles or difficulties do please get in touch with me. I would also b~ very grateful for anY information that you can let me have about progress in your country. Our hope is that IWFOTA8 will keep NMAs fully Informed about anything that happens, but I will also keep you informed from here as seems appropriate without unnecessary duplication. Yours stncerel R.L.O.~ Ate. C tj'l BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

EUROPEAN C/LklPAIGN AGAINST CANCER l. Introduction This report outlines the current situation concernin9 the European Community Campaign Against Cancer. While it can not be seen as solely an attack on the tobacco industry, tobacco does feature very strongly The report therefore suggests action that the industry could take in helping to clarify its position to those who are involved in the anti-cancer initiative. 2. Current Situation o 1 The resolution is, at the moment, being treated in three concurrent processes: a) By the Commission with their group of 12 experts. In charge of the support team for this group is Dr. Bennett (British) from DG V. He is the Director of Public Health and Safety based in Luxembour9. b) The Parliament where it is being handled by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection. The rapporteur ts Mrs. Squarclalup|, an Italian Communist. c) The Council of Ministers with a special working group consisting of senior civil servants. In this team would be from the UK people from the DHSS and their equivalents from other countries. Also involved would be COREPER, the Committee of Representatives te Ambassadors from the different countries. In the case of the UK the /~nbassador ts Mr. Hannay, the deputy /~abassador is Hr. David Elliot, who would be more involved in the matter probably with Mr. Nick Brown, the consumer affairs specialist. It is certain that the Council of Health Ministers meeting on 29 May will discuss this matter even though the report of the Committee of Experts ~ not be ready. The European Parliament has a plenary session each month and the most likely month for the discussion of this topic is considered to be May when the meeting will be from 12th to the 16th. Motl vatl on The tdea of the campaign came from the Milan Summit at which the theme of the Citizens Europe was promoted. This was also the meeting at which the Cockfield report was discussed. It seems as if the Council is looking for populist issues to promote and certainly the campaign against cancer could be seen as one such; however, tt obviously ts a very sertous project and must be treated as such. It Is very unlikely that anybody would vote against the initiative despite previous hesitation on taking a common line about health issues. In recent months there has been something of a lull in Brussels while people have been waiting for the results of the Danish Referendma, the French election and subsequently the somewhat difficult position in which the new French Government finds ttself. In general, it is thought that the issue is unlikely to 9o away and indeed there is a general feeltn9 in Europe, despite the present c C~ BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

• Q hiatus, that this is the time to advance concerted action on a number of matters wtth the momentum coming from the current Chairman of the Comisston. At the same time there may well be a problem with budgets. As a result of the impending refund of VAT, money rill be even are restricted than before. It could therefore be that, although the importance of the anti-cancer campaign will not diminish, resources ~dll be 1tatted, and therefore in terms of timing It may be put back somewhat. Zn this connection tt would be Interesting to see how Hrs. Squarctalupi's recommendation ~ll fare in that she has asked for approximately three times the amount originally allocated for this progral. A further factor may be that the questton of Aids will attract considerable support and money for research into thts problem and so may be given a higher priority. This my also be important in as far as LOI~ countries are concerned In that Aids is extremely prevalent; tn Africa as indeed was stressed by one of the delegates we saw to dtscuss the WHO resolution. Zn summary, therefore, it is possible that we say have more time than we at first thought, but there ls no doubt that this problem ~st be tackled. 5. Industrjf Action So Far o At present the various Nl~s have not yet taken a decision as to what could best be done to deal with this problem nor whom they should contact. They will be discussing their ideas in the first meeting that they hold after Easter during the first weeks in April. There will also then be a Joint meeting of NMAs under the Chairmanship of Bryan Simpson of TAC (and of course INFOTAB) when this matter will be on the agenda. For the time being the Irish Nl~ had at their own request taken the lead (they are currently chairing the European group of NMAs), and although they did some intensive briefing, they were not able to change the text of the resolution within ECOSOC. Recommended Action by the Industry Wlth reference to the three concurrent processes mentioned above, ttts recommended that the following steps be taken: a) We attempt to make contact with Dr. Bennett through a third party rather than directly from this company. Dr. Thornton could perhaps be asked to approach Dr. Francis Roe to talk to Bennett and to see where he believes the emphasis lies and whether he would welcome any form of briefing about the tndustry's viewpoint. This area would need to be handled with great delicacy. b) The Parliament. While this is an important area and MEPs are used to betng lobbied, it has to be recogntsed that their influence may be limited compared with that of the team of experts and Indeed the Council of Ministers. Nevertheless, an approach could be made with the following mainly British NEPs. Alex Sherlock, Conservative Spokesman for Consumer Affairs (and possibly Andrew Pearce, Conservative. Chris Prout, Chief Whip. Ken Colltns, Labour, vice-president of the comtttee dealing with consumer affairs and still the socialist spokeman In the European Parliament for consumer affairs. BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999

It Bay also be necessary to see Frau Weber, a Geman Socialist, even though she tends to be anti-rooking and the rapportaur, Mrs. Squarctalupt. c) For the Council of Ministers working group, contact should be made with Mr. David Elliot, depu~ Brtttsh Ambassador and Mr. )lick Brown. Contact here could tn fact be the most important element tn any briefing plan. It ts particularly important that, tn addition to approaches to British contacts, the NMAs tn different countries consider which ~Ps or ,embers of COREPER they could usefully contact. 7. Content of Brtefin9 II~OTAB has produced some very useful mtertal for the briefing plan about the WHO resolution. Soma of this matertal could be adapted for our current purpose. The following are the matn elemants: a) The economic impact of the industry covering employment, agriculture and of course revenue to government. (This point may not be so relevant to the European initiative and will have to be used with care.) b) The true effects of advertising, still widely gisunderstood. c) Co~ents on the more extrema staten~nts made about health, both for the saoker and the non-snmker. This also covers reference to addiction. d) Reference to the tndustry's attitude on children and young people smoktng and what we are dotng to counter this. e) HEAVY E)tPHASIS ON THE FACT THAT MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED• Thls ts probably the most important aspect from the point of view of the European initiative. Conclusi on It has to be recogntsed that finding support for the industry is likely to be extremely difficult. AnY brteftng plan mould have to be undertaken with considerable care and tact and well coordinated. If the above outltne plan meets with approval tt is recommended that: a) BAT wlth TAC starts to make the Brtttsh contacts suggested above b) We get in touch with our operating companies tn the different countries of Europe outlining thts plan and asking for their acttve support. c) We discuss the matter at the forthcoming Board meettng of INFOTAB on 8th April tn order to reinforce the suggested action wfltch should be taken up through NFtks. c c BATCo document for PFSFC 1 March 1999