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LONDON — Six retailers and tobacco firms have agreed to pay combined fines of more than 130 million pounds after admitting "unlawful practices" relating to retail tobacco prices, the Office of Fair Trading said.

Retailers Asda, Somerfield, First Quench, One Stop Stores and TM Retail plus manufacturer Gallaher agreed to pay 132.3 million pounds (165 million euros, 263 million dollars).

The fines come after the competition watchdog accused 12 firms of price-fixing, by either co-ordinating to link the price of some brands to rival products or exchanging proposed future retail prices between competitors.

An investigation into the six other firms named by the OFT three months ago — the Co-operative Group, Imperial Tobacco, Morrisons, Safeway, Shell and Tesco — is continuing.

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said in a statement Friday evening that companies should set their prices independently, to ensure the markets work well for consumers and the economy.

"The OFT is very pleased that the early co-operation of these parties has enabled the swift resolution of some of this case, which will significantly reduce the costs of pursuing the investigation for the OFT and the businesses concerned," he added.

The OFT investigation covered the period 2000-3. The companies which came to "early resolution agreements" led to a reduction in their fines, the watchdog said.

Even so, the Financial Times said Saturday the sum was still the biggest collective penalty the OFT had handed down.

CONCERNS have been raised about the availability of candy-style imitation cigarettes to children in Scarborough.

The sweets, which look remarkably like a hand-rolled cigarette and packaged in replica cigarette packets are now accessible in some shops in Scarborough.

A Scarborough couple have brought it to the attention of the Evening News after witnessing, what they thought, was a child smoking.

John Palethorpe, of Maria’s Court, said: "The child, was with his mother and he was about nine-years-old. She was smoking and he had one of these cigarettes pretending to smoke – emulating exactly what the mother was doing."

He said he and his wife, Sandra, realised that it was a sweet and were then alerted to the fact that this type of sweet was available in Scarborough shops.

He added: "It is an absolute disgrace. The packets look so much like an American or European cigarette packet. It is diabolical that these should be allowed to be sold to children."

North Yorkshire Trading Standards said it was not illegal to sell the products.

Derek Smith, consumer services section leader, said: "Sugar ‘cigarettes’ and novelty ’smokers sets’ made from chocolate or liquorice, were common place at one time.

"As the public became more aware of the dangers associated with smoking tobacco, coupled with the health promotions to prevent children taking up the habit, the demand for these types of products waned.

"Recently there has been a trend for buying so-called retro candy such as aniseed balls and spangles. It’s unfortunate that chocolate cigarettes have re surfaced but it’s not illegal to sell them and it’s really up to retailers to decide whether or not it’s a product with which they wish to be associated."

Mr Palethorpe said: "This type of sweet is just encouraging children to smoke. Both myself and Sandra smoke and we believe it be the worst thing in our lives that we have ever done. We try to cut down, but it is hard. And now we both suffer from illnesses that are smoking-related."

TOKYO, - Japan Tobacco Inc, the world’s No. 3 tobacco maker, said it may raise the price of Marlboro cigarettes– its first non-tax linked hike in 15 years — to help offset nine straight years of a shrinking market.
The increase would come on top of rises in everything from gasoline to beer and noodles that have already burdened consumers in the world’s second-largest economy.
Japan Tobacco, which is half-owned by the Japanese government, has seen costs rise even as it grapples with an ageing population and widening health consciousness that have reduced the ranks of smokers.
It is also suffering from the yen’s surge against the dollar and fallout from a food scare earlier this year involving pesticide-contaminated dumplings it imported from China.
"First we want to try to reduce our costs, then we want to shift customers to higher-priced, value-added products," spokeswoman Yukiko Seto said on Friday .
"After that, we might consider that sort of thing," she added, confirming a Nikkei business daily story quoting Japan Tobacco President Hiroshi Kimura as saying price hikes were an option.
If the company raises Marlboro cigarettes prices, it will be the first time since 1993 that a price increase has not been linked to taxes. Japan Tobacco makes Mild Seven cigarettes and owns the Camel, Winston and Salem brands outside of the United States.

State Treasurer Scott Meacham says he would support the idea of having one single compact rate for all American Indian tribes that sell cigarettesin Oklahoma.
Meacham says he is not bailing out on a multiple-stamp system, but it would be easier to enforce a single rate. He believes that would help Oklahoma move forward with cutting down on smoking while raising more money to benefit better health in the state.
Attorneys from the Oklahoma Tax Commission and tribal smoke shops are currently working on an agreement that would limit the sales of low-tax cigarettes in the state.
The agreement would lift a restraining order and cut down on the number of cigarettes that can be sold with 6-cent tax stamps intended for use near the state’s borders.
Smoke shops that aren’t near a border must sell 86-cent stamps.

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.

In a victory for the tobacco industry, a federal appeals court threw out on Thursday an $800 billion class-action lawsuit on behalf of smokers who said they had been misled that light cigarettes were safer than regular ones.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers wanted to represent millions of people across the country who had smoked light cigarettes. But the court, saying it was impossible to generalize about why smokers chose light cigarettes, ruled that the group could not be treated as a class. Instead, smokers wanting to sue over the issue would have to do so individually.
There might be various reasons for a smoker to choose a light brand other than “the belief that lights were a healthier alternative,” the ruling said. Other possibilities are that a lights smoker “was unaware of that representation, preferred the taste of lights, or chose lights as an expression of personal style.”
Even though the ruling had been generally expected, and tobacco company stocks were little affected by the decision, analysts still viewed it as positive for the industry.
Several experts said the ruling, the latest in a string of industry victories in cases involving light cigarettes, relieved the tobacco industry of potentially billions in damages and could also deter other similar class-action lawsuits around the country. “It may be persuasive to judges around the country who might well be watching it,” said Carl W. Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

A Federal High Court in Abuja Monday ordered the Federal Government to effect service of court process through substituted means on Philip Morris International, Switzerland.
Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako ordered that the court processes relating to the suit be served on the multi-national company by publishing it in a well circulated newspaper in Switzerland.
The judge gave the order at the resumed hearing of the suit filed by the government, demanding N5.3 trillion compensation from three tobacco companies for alleged havoc done to under-aged smokers, through their operations in Nigeria.
The order was sequel to an application by counsel to the government, Mrs Maryam Uwais, complaining of difficulties in effecting service on Philip Morris.
Other defendants to the suit are International Tobacco Limited, British American Tobacco Plc and two of its affiliates.
In the suit, filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, government contended that tobacco related products manufactured and sold by the defendants were addictive and hazardous to the public health.
Specifically, government is seeking a court injunction compelling them and their agents to cease the marketing, promotion, distribution and sale of the products to minors and under-age persons.
The plaintiff also asked for a court order restraining the defendants from representing or portraying to persons under the age of 18, any alluring and misleading image regarding tobacco related products.
It also asked the court to outlaw the sale and distribution of cigarettes products within 1,000 radius of any school, hospitals, cinemas, playhouses, children shopping area, child care facilities and other public areas.
The respondents, government said, should formulate and implement procedure for the verification of age at all points of sales of cigarettes related products.
The government demanded from the defendants N136.3 billion special damages occasioned by the conduct of the companies.
It also demanded N4.8 trillion as anticipatory damages for the future expenses to be borne by the government in paying for the havoc the defendants allegedly caused to public health.”
In addition, the government requested the court to order the companies to pay N130 billion as punitive damages for the companies’ alleged wrongful conduct.