EnglishExpediency laws, not lawsuit proof
Prohibited all over the world the use of credit cards to purchase cigarettes online
There is an italian town where the streetwalkers used to retreat with their clients into the seclusion of a small woods in a city park. When the local newspapers reported the story, the authorities immediately took the necessary measures to quickly solve the problem: they cut down all the trees. This removed the privacy and the jolly company had to move somewhere else.
In the United States a problem has been solved in a similar way. The online sale of cigarettes disturbed the business of the Big Tobacco makers, ever active against Internet sites and against Yesmoke.
The giants raised their voices and a number of States, instead of establishing functional rules to apply customs duties, decided to prohibit the sales altogether, labeling them“contraband” and a “source of cigarettes supplies for minors”.
But purchasing tobacco by mail, both in inter-State commerce and imported from abroad, is a right of American citizens backed by federal laws, so the US Mail Service, a federal service, continued to deliver cigarettes even in the States where the new prohibition was in effect.
So Big Tobacco changed its tactics, shifting its attention to credit card companies evidently more compliant, and soon blocked the purchase of cigarettes on line using credit cards. This time its success was worldwide, but… “they're Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater!”.
In November 2004, a federal, state and local task force led by ATF seized the Yesmokes planeload of “contraband” cigarettes at Kennedy Airport;
In December ATF formally advised the credit card companies that their payment systems were being used by numerous Internet cigarette retailers to conduct “illegal business”.
November 2004, Kennedy Airport, Yesmoke under siege
In January 2005, 42 attorneys general sent a letter to each of the credit card companies, again asking that they not allow their cards to be used for illegal Internet purchases.
New York, March 2005, said Prudential Equity Group: “The agreement, worked out by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the major credit card companies and states attorneys general will prevent the use of credit cards to buy cigarettes over the Internet”.
“This agreement will significantly curtail cigarette sales over the Internet, to the advantage of the major cigarette manufacturers as well as state governments”. Prudential said Internet retailers also negatively impact major manufacturers by actively “down-trading consumers” to bargain cigarette brands.
The agreement, worked out by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the major credit card companies and states attorneys general should prevent the use of credit cards to buy cigarettes over the Internet.
But today the credit card companies in all the countries of the world have bowed to the will of Big Tobacco. Alcoholic drinks, pornography sites, online casinos, online drugstores can sell freely every type of product and can all freely use credit cards, but a company that sells cigarettes cannot do so.
A “Technical” Problem
It is a sudden “coup de main”, a flagrant expedient of Big Tobacco that does not approve of distribution systems not under its own control. This action is facilitated by the failure of the federal and state government to regulate the fiscal aspects, all complicated by the presence of different tax systems within the same country.
The United States is the country that gave birth to Internet, a marvelous instrument of freedom, and where extraordinary results have been achieved in scientific fields. Is it possible that today America finds itself impotent before an ordinary technical problem like the legislation of mail-order sales, to the point where it has to abolish them?
“They're Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater”
Here are some of the implications of the situation that has been created:
Switzerland: like a like a goliardic trick, a Swiss citizen, no longer able to use his credit card, may no longer buy online Swiss Yesmoke cigarettes, manufactured on the Swiss territory and delivered by SwissPost.
Canada: “here duty taxes were applied and paid when the packages were delivered and, pleasant surprise, the cigarettes still cost a bit less than at the local stores. Those who said that the world of tobacco and its distribution is in the hands of the few colossi who have eliminated all forms of competition, had to change their tune. Here was an example of a new free sales channel. – Good for you, Canada!” – we said this a few months ago. But now there is this dirty trick. Smokers who live in Canada may no longer be able to buy their legally sold cigarettes online.
Nat Sherman: some established tobacco sellers, like Nat Sherman, a cigar and cigarette manufacturer based in New Jersey, who also sells its products online, strenuously object to the government action. “They're throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, said Joel Sherman, the company's chief executive. Nat Sherman, like many other on-line stores, a long time ago adopted precautions to preclude the possibility of minors buying tobacco online. But this is not important for the authorities, Internet selling “is a source of tobacco supply for minors”; therefore, it must be abolished. That's that!
Attack on USPS
A few States, including New York, in contrast with the Federal law, even prohibit the shipment of tobacco products by private carriers, but only the Federal government has jurisdiction over what is delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
John M. McHugh (R-NY)
In fact, the US Postal Service, in spite of the law that forbade the shipments of tobacco products in the State of New York, continued for years to deliver cigarettes acquired online to Yesmoke.com. first, then to Yesmoke.ch, after the take-over of the first domain by Philip Morris.
“Because States don't have the authority over what is delivered by the U.S. Mail, Internet sellers of tobacco products can use this loophole to sell cigarettes to kids” said Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY), introducing legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that will prevent the delivery of cigarettes by the U.S. Postal Service.
“Sneaking around the Law”
“As long as cigarettes and other tobacco products are mailable, the costs to our society are great. State revenues are suffering in uncollected taxes and our children are able to buy these products with ease”. McHugh also said: “legislation will ensure that sellers can't sneak around state laws”.
It looks like a very confused situation, where nothing and no one can be considered “safe from lawsuits”.
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