revelations about the powerful tobacco lobby – L’Express

“We aimed in particular to show that, contrary to what we tend to believe, the influence of the tobacco industry is not diminishing: this lobby is still powerful and records victories, since the government still does not not in place of a coherent tax strategy against tobacco, underlines Martin Drago, advocacy manager at ACT, and coordinator of the drafting of the report. We also wanted to show that tobacconists are one of the levers of the tobacco industry and invest every year hundreds of thousands of euros in lobbying, which public opinion, but also parliamentarians – who often tend to defend them – must be aware of.”

The document first provides a snapshot of tobacco lobbying in France, divided into four groups. The first is represented by companies producing tobacco products, including the “Big Four”, made up of Philip Morris (44% of the French market), Japan Tobacco (24%), Seita Imperial Brands (16.5%) and British American Tobacco (15%). Then come the suppliers of tobacco products, which bring together 36 companies authorized to import tobacco into France and distribute it, the main one of which is Logista France, whose parent company Logista is more than 50% owned by Imperial Brands.

The third group brings together business associations and consulting firms: the French Association of Tobacco Manufacturers (AFIT), the Association of Smoking Tobacco Suppliers (AFTF), the Union of Manufacturers for the International Protection of intellectual property (UNIFAB) or the Association of Cigar Suppliers in France (AFCF). The “Big Four” also calls on the firms Vera, Thomas Marko & Associés, Cilab, Ernst & Young, Publicis and Lysios. The fourth lobby is that of the 23,500 tobacconists grouped in the National Confederation of Tobacconists. “The latter, directly interested in the sale of tobacco products, participate in the industry’s lobby by taking up its arguments and extending its influence with public authorities,” asserts ACT.

The report then tackles the difficult calculation of the sums committed by these different groups in order to defend their interests and thwart public health policies. “In 2022, the industry and its allies spent at least more than 1.15 million euros and employ nearly 30 people for influence activities in France alone,” indicates the document, which was based on data from the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) as well as those provided directly by manufacturers to the Ministry of Health. A “minimum” estimate, warns ACT, which is surprised that the data from the Ministry of Health and those of the HATVP are not consistent.

Thus, according to figures from the Ministry of Health, of the 43 companies listed as manufacturers, importers, distributors or professional organizations, seven declared expenses relating to influence activities “for a total amount of 708,716 euros”, including 609,422 euros in purchases of services from consulting companies and 99,294 euros in personnel expenses, intended to cover the salaries of around twenty employees. “Inconsistent” amounts, according to ACT, because salary expenditure seems tiny compared to the number of people employed – then because they do not concern the Confederation of tobacconists “which remains the most influential lobby for tobacco products tobacco”, and finally because the two main business associations, the AFTF and the AFCF, do not declare any employees.

As for the HATVP data, they indicate that tobacco organizations declared 28 employee lobbyists and that the “Big Four” instead spent between 775,000 and 1,100,000 euros on influence activities. The professional associations (AFTF, AFIT, AFCF) have invested between 175,000 and 200,000 euros and the tobacconists between 200,000 and 300,000 euros. The total would therefore be between 1,150,000 and 1,600,000 euros, which does not take into account the budgets spent by the influence strategy firms employed by manufacturers.

The report then mentions the well-known phenomenon of “revolving doors”: these back and forths of personnel between the public and private sectors. “Five lobbyists who currently work for the industry have previously worked in Parliament or in the administration,” says ACT. Kévin Reva, today at Philip Morris, was for example the parliamentary attaché of Senator Catherine Procaccia (LR) which, in 2022, questioned the Senate on the interest of promoting “alternatives” to cigarettes, including heated tobacco, the industry’s new flagship product barely less dangerous than cigarettes, according to doctors and researchers. Marine Sauce, now at Japan Tobacco International, was a parliamentary assistant to MP François Bonhomme (LR) for four years. “The latter has regularly taken a position in favor of the industry, particularly on the subject of taxation of tobacco products,” underlines the document.

On the other hand, financial links between elected officials and industry are much rarer. Only Senator Claude Malhuret (Agir) held, according to his 2021 declaration to the HATVP, 16,000 euros of shares in Philip Morris and Altria, an American tobacco giant. Contacted by L’Express, Mr. Malhuret, also a doctor, specified that this portfolio of shares came from his mother’s inheritance. “Since then, I have sold all my Philip Morris shares, but I have not updated my declaration,” he assures. As for Altria, he didn’t know it was a tobacco company. “I am very annoyed to learn it, fortunately you told me, I am going to change that on Monday,” he adds, assuring that he “understands that this could be shocking.”

The lobbying activity is also proving effective, ACT further assures, citing the ethics officer of the National Assembly who, in its annual report, recalls that during the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) 2023, voted at the end of 2022, 61 amendments concerned tobacco taxation, 53 of which “aimed to eliminate or reduce the planned increase in taxation”. ACT also recalls that Gabriel Attal, then Minister of Customs and Public Accounts, attended the annual congress of tobacconists in October 2022 to announce a modification of the PLFSS 2023. “I asked to lower and smooth certain trajectories over several years. The tax increases planned for rolling tobacco and heating tobacco will be less significant than expected,” he said. then declared. The bill was, in fact, amended the next day.

The PLFSS 2024, currently being discussed in the National Assembly, would also be targeted by the industry. “No provision to combat smoking has been passed, in particular with regard to taxation”, worries the report, which notes in particular “the influence of the tobacconists’ lobby which managed to have Members of all political stripes of amendments aimed at reducing taxation on tobacco products.

The new anti-tobacco plan presented by the government on Tuesday November 28, which provides for further increases in the price of cigarettes (with a pack going from 11 euros today to 12 in 2025 then to 13 in 2027), changes nothing, says Martin Draco. “The Ministry of Health is not announcing a fiscal trajectory, but increases indexed to inflation, he assures. What we are asking for are real increases, that is to say in excess of inflation.” All scientific studies show, in fact, that for each 10% increase excluding inflation, consumption decreases by 4% and up to 8% among people with the lowest purchasing power.

In addition to their lobbying, tobacconists are also accused of abuses – in particular the sale of tobacco to minors – which are not punished. A study by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) shows that 49.2% of third-year students who use tobacco say they bought a pack of cigarettes from a tobacconist. These same tobacconists do not hesitate to put pressure on the press, like the decision of several thousand of them to illegally withdraw from sale numbers of Parisian and of the Team who had the audacity to display a slightly ironic ACT advertisement: “The tobacco industry wishes you a bad new year 2023”. Far from sanctioning, the State continues to support. Philippe Coy, president of the confederation of tobacconists, also received the Legion of Honor in 2022, at the suggestion of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance.

A series of measures aimed at reducing the influence of these lobbies is therefore recommended. “The main one is the strict application of the WHO convention signed by France,” summarizes Martin Drago. This text indicates that relations between decision-makers and lobbies must be limited to what is strictly necessary and that, if a meeting between them is obligatory, then there must be total transparency not only of the agenda, but also of the content of the discussions, as is the case at the level of the Directorate General of European Health.”

The report also suggests setting up the “sourcing” of amendments, i.e. publishing the name of the entity at the origin of an amendment, or even integrating the expenses incurred by the Confederation of tobacconists in the mandatory industry reporting on transparency. In the meantime, anti-tobacco associations will closely follow the discussions aimed at banning the sale of puffs, these electronic cigarettes very popular with young people, scheduled for this Monday evening at the National Assembly.