Global agreement reached on cigarette smuggling

A broad coalition of states agreed Monday to fight cigarette smuggling by requiring manufacturers to be licensed and tobacco products to be trackable.

The agreement came after more than five years of negotiations between parties to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

It will not apply to the United States, however, because U.S. officials have not ratified the larger framework. 

Giving an address in Seoul, WHO chief Margaret Chan praised the "game-changing" pact as a major step forward on combating illegal tobacco trafficking, which keeps an estimated $40 billion in revenue from governments every year.

"The protocol gives the world an orderly, rules-based instrument for countering and eventually eliminating a very sophisticated international criminal activity," Chan said. "Illicit trade is bad for health because it circumvents measures like taxes and price increases that are known to reduce demand."

The agreement allows the 176 signatories five years to license all tobacco suppliers and manufactures and develop a way to track tobacco products.

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