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LONDON - Six companies will pay a maximum of 173.3 million pounds ($342.5 million) after admitting unlawful practices relating to the retail price of cigarettes in the UK, under a deal with Britain’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Japan Tobacco said its Gallaher unit had agreed to pay 93 million pounds for taking part in anti-competitive practices during 2000 to 2003, before the Tokyo-based cigarette group bought the British tobacco company in 2007.

The other five groups, all retailers, were Wal-Mart-owned Asda, First Quench, One Stop Stores (formerly called T&S Stores), Somerfield and TM Retail, a statement by the British regulator said on Friday.

A number of the six parties had previously applied to the OFT for leniency and the total penalties the groups agreed to pay, if all leniency and early resolution discounts are given, is 132.2 million pounds, rather that the pre-discount penalties total of 173.3 million pounds, the OFT said.

The OFT did not say when a final decision on the level of fines would be taken.

The regulator added that supermarket group Sainsbury Plc was the first to apply to the OFT for leniency and will receive complete immunity if it continues to co-operate.

Investigations will continue against Imperial Tobacco Plc, Shell and retailers Morrisons, Morrisons-owned Safeway, Tesco and the Co-operative Group, the OFT said.

Imperial Tobacco said in a statement it had not admitted to any infringement of competition law and had not acted in any way contrary to the interests of consumers. It said it would continue to co-operate with the OFT. (Editing by Mike Elliott and David Holmes)

As many as 40 people from the small provision shops and supermarkets in the Belait District attended the Tobacco Order Briefing held at the multipurpose hall of the Health Office yesterday.
The briefing was presented by Senior Medical Officer of the Tobacco Control Unit, Hj Rozaimi Hj Tengah. The briefing was mainly aimed at enhancing participants’ understanding in protecting public health as well as to gain their cooperation with regard to the Tobacco Order to be implemented come June 1.
Business owners were also briefed on cigarettes sales, licences and rules and regulations governing such business. Under Section 2 of the Controlling of Local Products Act, it is prohibited to sell cigarettes to those under 18 years of age (Chapter 9), by which any form of identification will be asked before purchase. Those who breach the rule will face a fine of up to B$5,000.
If any of the said conditions under the Tobacco Order 2005 and its regulations 2007 go unheeded, business owners’ licences will be revoked or suspended.

BEIJING—Li Zhigang inhaled deeply from a cigarette while sitting on his haunches last week near the Beijing Railway Station before deciding there was no way that tighter smoking regulations would change where or when he would grab a smoke.

Li, a 30-year-old real estate salesman, said he could support tighter rules in theory but could not see himself changing his habits.

More people are killed in fires started by unattended cigarettes in the United States than any other kind of fire. Those numbers, however, may drop thanks to a new kind of cigarette.

They are called "fire-safe" cigarettes. Legislators are expected to pass a law that would prohibit the sale of any other kind of cigarette in Hawaii.

The latest numbers from the National Fire Protection Association show cigarettes started more than 82,400 fires in the U.S. in 2005. Those fires killed 800 people and injured more than 1,660 people.

The most common fuel for those fires … mattresses. People fall asleep in bed while smoking and some mattresses burn very quickly.

So a new generation of cigarettes has been developed.

They are called "fire-safe" cigarettes, or LIPs which stands for low ignition propensity.

"It’s a cigarette that when you don’t smoke it, you’re talking … you set it down, it’ll go out. It won’t keep burning like traditional cigarettes do," said Christopher Maxwell, who owns a store called Tobaccos of Hawaii on Atkinson Street.

LIP cigarettes are made with bands of thicker paper. Those bands act like speed bumps to slow the burn making them less likely to start fires.

If legislators pass the proposed "fire-safe" cigarette bill as expected, LIP cigarettes will be the only kind of cigarette you will be able to buy in Hawaii beginning Oct. 1, 2009.

Maxwell already sells lots of the "fire-safe" smokes.

"No one’s given me any negative feedback. There’s obviously no flavor difference. Most people don’t even know it’s going on. Virtually the entire cigarette industry is going to LIP cigarettes," Maxwell told KGMB9.

A spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department said LIP cigarettes are a step in the right direction, but smokers still need to adhere to safety rules. Never smoke in bed. Smoke outside instead of indoors. And keep matches and lighters out of sight and reach of children.

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MUMBAI/KOLKATA: With the government yet to budge on the tobacco industry’s demands, Kolkata-based ITC is readying for a possible hike in prices of non-filter cigarettes. The company, which is believed to have stopped production of the variety, is contemplating this move, as an extended closure would mean huge losses for the company and for those dependent on it.
Sources say ITC plans to hike prices soon and the product with the new price tag would be made available in the market by the end of this quarter. The company is also likely to resume production by then. ITC officials were not available for comment.
In his last Budget, finance minister P Chidambaram increased excise duty on non-filter cigarettes to bring them on a par with filter cigarettes. For cigarettes between 60 mm and 70 mm length, excise duty was increased from Rs 546 to Rs 1,323 per 1,000 cigarettes while for cigarettes below 60 mm, it went up from Rs 168 to Rs 819 per 1,000 cigarettes.
As per an analyst with a local brokerage firm, the company would only look at a price hike if the conversion rate to filter cigarettes is quite low. “The company is adopting a wait-and-watch policy as far as conversion from non-filter to filter cigarettes is concerned. If the conversion is quite low, then the company would not consider it,” Anand Mour of Prabhudas Lilladher said.

AUGUSTA — Health groups urged lawmakers Wednesday to increase the cigarettes tax by a $1 per pack, saying the increase will encourage more people to quit smoking and generate more money for health programs.
Health Policy Partners of Maine, which includes heart, lung and cancer groups, also announced survey results that show 76 percent of Mainers support a cigarette tax increase.
"Maine people understand the importance of high tobacco prices and are counting on their state legislators to use this powerful tool to reduce the physical and financial toll of tobacco use," said Ed Miller, CEO of the American Lung Association in Maine.
If Maine increases the state cigarette tax from $2 to $3 per pack, it would be the highest state tax in the country. Miller said other states, such as New York, are also considering tobacco tax increases.
The announcement came just one day after Gov. John Baldacci said he would support increasing the cigarettes tax to help pay for the state’s Dirigo Health program. Last year, Baldacci proposed a $1 per pack increase as part of the budget, but it was rejected by lawmakers.
This time around, House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, is sponsoring a bill to make changes to state health insurance laws in an attempt to lower the cost of health care in the state. Her bill includes a 50-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to help fund Dirigo Health, the state’s insurance program for individuals and small businesses.
Miller and others who gathered in the Statehouse Hall of Flags said they would support using some of the money for Dirigo Health and the rest for other health-related programs. "This is health policy," Miller said. "It’s not tax policy."
On the other side of the issue, smokers who stopped by the Maine Smoke Shop in Augusta said they feel singled out by the state. "I think they ought to back off the smokers for a while and go after the drinkers," said Charles McKenney, of Augusta. Sheila Tondreau, also of Augusta, said a tax increase is not a good idea.
"It’s always us that gets hit," she said. "You don’t see them taxing all these other people." Chris Jackson of the Maine Oil Dealers Association said convenience stores represented by the association have been hurt by past tobacco tax increases. "For small retailers, this is not about smoking or Dirigo Health, it’s about trying to stay competitive with our counterparts in New Hampshire," he said.
Jackson said convenience store owners with shops in Maine and New Hampshire saw cigarette sales drop here but increase in New Hampshire after the last tax hike. In 2005, Maine lawmakers set the current tax at $2 per pack. Jackson also said cigarette taxes are not a stable source of funding. "We think it’s unfair to mislead people to think Dirigo Health would have a reliable source of funding if the tobacco tax passed," he said.
Members of the health coalition said increasing the tax by another dollar will bring in an additional $64 million a year in revenue to the state. In addition, they say it will compel some people to stop smoking because they can no longer afford it, and that it will cut health care costs caused by smoking-related illnesses. "This is about Maine’s future," said Megan Hannan of the American Cancer Society. "We need to raise the price of cigarettes as soon as possible."

For the first time since Philip Morris, Esq., opened a tobacco shop on Bond Street in London in 1847, the company’s U.S. and international businesses will be separate.
The Altria Group Inc. holding company split its two cigarettes units on Friday, sealing the deal by giving its shareholders stock in the newly independent Philip Morris International. Altria now consists of Philip Morris USA, cigar maker John Middleton Inc., a money-management arm and a 28.6 percent stake in Britain-based beer maker SABMiller PLC. It will move its headquarters to Richmond, Va., from Midtown Manhattan.
Both Philip Morris companies produce Marlboros. PMUSA also makes Virginia Slims, Parliament and Basic cigarettes while PMI makes the L&M, Bond Street and other brands.
The split is not only the final step to a restructuring that began in 2004, it essentially rolls back a strategy to turn the Philip Morris Cos., as it used to be called, into a general consumer products company. It widened its product offerings beyond cigarettes and beer in 1985 with the $5.6 billion acquisition of General Foods.
By 2003, it had adopted the Altria name. But in November 2004, it announced its plan to spin-off of Altria’s remaining majority stake in Kraft Foods Inc. and separate the two tobacco units, reversing the idea of keeping the disparate holdings under one corporate umbrella.
The breakup frees Philip Morris International from legal and public relations concerns here in the U.S. In preparation, PMI has created a slew of new Marlboro-branded products for fast-growing markets around the world. Some of the cigarettes are designed to cater to local tastes: the clove-based Marlboro Mix 9 in Indonesia; thicker Marlboro Wides in Western Europe, Japan and Mexico; and Marlboro Fresh Mint and Crisp Mint in Hong Kong.
Shareholders got one share of Philip Morris International stock for every one share of Altria they own. Altria will keep its MO ticker and Philip Morris International will adopt the PM ticker. The board has announced dividends that are equivalent to Altria’s before the split, and said it would buy back $7.5 billion in shares over two years.
The larger PMI, which operates in more than 160 countries, earned revenue of $55.1 billion in 2007, compared PMUSA’s $18.49 billion.
Louis Camilleri, who was chief executive of Altria, is the new CEO of the international business. PMI has an office in New York but most of its staff works out of a Lausanne, Switzerland, office. While PMI escapes the shadow of pending and yet-to-be-filed lawsuits in the U.S., critics of the industry are wary of the damage its marketing power could have on consumers in poorer nations.
The U.N.’s World Health Organization issued a report in February that said the "tobacco epidemic" could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking. The agency reported that governments around the world collect more than $200 billion in tobacco taxes every year but spend less than one-fifth of 1 percent of that revenue on tobacco control.
"Faced with an epidemic that kills 5.4 million people each year, the world will not tolerate increased profits for a few, at the expense of the health and lives of so many," Kathy Mulvey, international policy director for Corporate Accountability International, said in a statement Friday.
Shares of Altria, trading on a when-issued basis without the value of PMI, fell 70 cents to $22.22 on Friday. Shares of PMI, on a when-issued basis, rose 38 cents to $51.06. Both will begin regular-hours trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. PMI shares will also trade on the NYSE Euronext Paris and SWX Swiss exchanges. Both will be on the Standard & Poor’s 100 and 500 Indices, Altria said in a statement Friday.

Increasing Florida’s outdated tax on cigarettes would have been wise a few years ago when the economy was soaring. It’s even better idea now as lawmakers struggle to cover a budget shortfall and find money for essential needs like health care. Last summer, Gov. Charlie Crist politely described as "innovative" a proposal to boost the state’s cigarettes tax for the first time since 1990, but quickly added, "I’m not for raising taxes, as you know."
Meanwhile, just about everything else seems to be fair game for a hike. Five years ago, the Republican-controlled Legislature raised $150 million extra by increasing fees paid by drivers, college students, Medicaid patients, cell-phone users, hunters and mobile-home residents. Cigarette taxes remained unchanged.
Crist’s attitude has varied only slightly. Asked about two weeks ago whether the state should consider a cigarette tax this year, Crist replied, "No. No new taxes. What I think we need to do is be innovative." The overall mood in Tallahassee, however, has changed substantially over the past year - and with good reason.
About two weeks ago, the Legislature chopped $512 million from the current fiscal year’s budget - which is now $1.5 billion less than when it was approved last May.
Lawmakers now have to write a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. And they found out recently that they’ll have nearly $2 billion less to work with that they previously expected. In other words, the Legislature will either have to make even deeper cuts in essential state services, or find new sources of revenue.

Ontario should follow the leads of New Brunswick and British Columbia and pass legislation enabling it to sue the big cigarettes companies to recover health-care costs associated with tobacco-related diseases. The way has been paved by those two provinces, and some American states, and it makes no sense for Ontario not to follow suit in a bid to recoup some of the funds paid by taxpayers that are directly attributable to the use of a cigarettes product.
Make no mistake, the big tobacco companies knew decades ago that their products are deadly. Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer - the list of tobacco health ills goes on.
Dr. Richard Schabas, medical officer of health for the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, was one of about 100 mostly health officials who, in a letter sent about two years ago, urged Premier Dalton McGuinty to file the lawsuit.
The province declined without really explaining why. McGuinty should spell out the reasons for his decision to Ontarians.
New Brunswick passed legislation earlier this month that gave the province the legal authority to file the lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Attorney General T.J. Burke said those firms must be held accountable and that the province is moving ahead "aggressively with legal action."
Why not Ontario?
The Liberals imposed a new health tax in 2004, $750 deducted annually from pay and pensions in the form of an income tax. The government said the tax was necessary to keep the expensive health-care system running. Yet the lawsuit is a potential source of income that could negate the need for a regressive tax and provide funds to pump into health care - a system that is straining to counter the effects that tobacco has brought on our hospitals and cancer care system. Tapping into tobacco riches is the way to go - clearly provincial citizens deserve and need the money.
In Ontario, it is estimated that tobacco-related diseases cost the economy at least $1.7 billion in health-care annually, result in more than $2.6 billion in productivity losses and account for at least 500,000 hospital days each year, according to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Meanwhile, tobacco taxes generated about $1.4 billion in 2004-05, the ministry estimated. Ontario is clearly losing more in health-care to tobacco than the weed is bringing into provincial tax coffers. For tax masters like McGuinty, that should tip the balance in favour of legal action.
Schabas made the point - correctly - that if a lawsuit is filed, it places tobacco companies in financial jeopardy.

Malawi opened its tobacco auction season on Monday with prices at record highs after the government set minimum prices and registered another international buyer.
The main auction floors, which opened in the capital Lilongwe on Monday, saw farmers sell their crop at between $6 and $11 per kg - much higher than the minimum price set by the government last month of $2.20.
Tobacco is Malawi’s mainstay, accounting for over 70 percent of exports and 15 percent of its gross domestic product, but for the last two years low prices have led to cuts in production.
For many years tobacco prices had hovered around 70-90 U.S. cents per kg, far lower than the $1 the industry says it costs to produce one kg of the golden leaf.
Prices started improving last year with farmers selling their crop between $1.60 and $1.70 per kg for the first time in several years after President Bingu wa Mutharika ordered buyers to offer better prices or leave the country.
Limbe Leaf Tobacco, majority-owned by the Swiss-registered Continental Tobacco Company, and U.S.-based Alliance One Tobacco, were the main active buyers. Last year, the government registered another international buyer, U.S.-based Premiere Leaf, in a bid to get better prices.
Two undisclosed Chinese companies had also been expected to buy cigarettes the crop this year.
"The competition on the market is working because that is the only reason why we saw good grade cigarettes go up to US$11 today for the first time," Tobacco Control Commission General Manager Godfrey Chaponda told Reuters. President Bingu wa Mutharika, who also farms tobacco, has accused buyers of running a cartel to fix prices but the companies have denied the allegations.
About 2 million of the country’s 13 million people depend on tobacco and related industries for their livelihood.