Background

I-Com was founded in 2005 by, what it describes as, a collection of “scholars, professionals and managers” with the objective “to promote debates and analyses on competitiveness concerning innovation, in the Italian, European and international politico-economic contexts”.³ The think tank focuses on areas such as digitalisation, energy, innovation, health and institutions.³

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

As of 14 October 2020, I-Com listed British American Tobacco’s (BAT) EU Office as a partner on its website. On 14 October, other partners included Amazon, European Energy Retailers, Enel, Google, Huawei, Johnson and Johnson, MSD, and Qualcomm.⁴

As of 3 November 2020, BAT was no longer listed as a partner.⁵

The think tank began publishing content on tobacco and harm reduction after World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2020. I-Com joined the European Commission’s public consultation on ‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Action Plan’ with the intention of “[contributing] to the EU decision-making process towards the adoption of the European Cancer Plan”.⁶ The public consultation provided an opportunity for citizens, researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders to input opinions on best practices for addressing cancer.⁶

In May 2020, I-Com published an article outlining its contribution to the public consultation. In regard to harm reduction, the article states:⁶

• “a harm reduction strategy for smokers should be defined, including the use of alternative nicotine delivery products such as e-cigs. Regulation needs to balance risks and benefits with the aim of reducing smoking through the supply of behavioural support and evaluating the impact through constant monitoring”
• “a successful cancer plan must be committed to risk reduction and improving daily assistance through continued efforts to decrease smoking rates by preventing the uptake of smoking and promoting cessation through harm reduction plans”

In July 2020, I-Com published a factsheet titled “Cancer Prevention: Better Lifestyle Policies – A Priority for the European Union”.⁷⁸ The think tank called for public authorities to promote and “encourage harm reduction strategies”.⁷⁸ The factsheet provided an analysis of stakeholder submissions to the public consultation on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. It revealed that “nearly 20% of contributions supported the definition of harm reduction plans for alcohol and tobacco” and “one in every six recommended policies which encourage the use of reduced risk nicotine products by smokers, such as e-cigarettes”.⁷

In September 2020, I-Com organised a roundtable discussion on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan involving MEPs. The open platform brought together 50 participants to discuss how the European Parliament can play a role in contributing to the Beating Cancer Plan and best practices for cancer prevention. Speakers at the roundtable included Clive Bates, former Director of ASH, and Konstantinos Poulas, professor at the University of Patras.⁹¹⁰

Following the roundtable, the think tank recommended “increasing the availability of smokeless tobacco products” as a means of minimising harms.⁹¹⁰

People

• Stefano Da Empoli – President and Principal Policy Analyst³
• Mattia Ceracchi – Head of EU Affairs³
• Eleonora Mazzoni, Head of Innovation Area ³

Use of Think Tanks by the Tobacco Industry

The tobacco industry has a history of collaborating with think tanks around the world, to assist in indirect lobbying. These think tanks provide an echo-chamber for key messages from the industry. For more information on think-tanks and allies of the tobacco industry around the world, see Think tanks and Third party techniques.

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• British American Tobacco
• Think Tanks
• Third Party Techniques
• Harm reduction

References

The post Institute for Competitiveness (I-Com) appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

• Kevin Altman, technical consultant to the Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America (CITMA)
• Scott Ballin, tobacco and health policy consultant
• Patrick Basham, director, the Democracy Institute
• Maarten Bevers, vice president corporate affairs, Global Leaf, Japan Tobacco International
• Erik Bloomquist, senior analyst, consumer staples, Berenberg Bank
• Rob Burton, group head of public health and scientific affairs at British American Tobacco
• Jeannie Cameron, owner, JCIC International
• Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest and founder of The Free Society
• Doug DaCosta, safety, security, integrity consultant
• Jamie Dettmer, journalist and editorial consultant
• Michelle Dowle, International Scientific Affairs Manager
• Carlo Einarsson, market communications director, Iggesund Paperboard AG
• Jonathan Fell, director of beverages and tobacco analyst research CIB-Markets for Deutsche Bank
• Pierre-Marie Guitton, secretary general, CORESTA
• Angela Harbutt, director, Liberal Vision
• Dr. Frank Hartig, GSC Global Engineering vice president, Japan Tobacco International
• Bonnie Herzog, managing director, beverage, tobacco & consumer research, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
• Delon Human, president and ceo, Health Diplomats, Switzerland
• Mick Hume, editor-at-large, Spiked Magazine (online)
• Thierry Lebeaux, vice president and head of European Affairs office, Japan Tobacco International
• Mark Littlewood, director general, Institute of Economic Affairs
• Kirsty Mann, Senior CR Engagement Manager, Imperial Tobacco
• Tamsin McLean, international management consultant
• Rajiv Mohan, Vice President Exports and Supply Chain, Indian Tobacco Company Limited (ITC)
• Marina Murphy, scientific communications manager, British American Tobacco
• Des Naughton, director, operations, British American Tobacco
• Paul Neumann, senior vice president Global Leaf, Japan Tobacco International
• Chigusa Ogawa, procurement capital equipment director, Japan Tobacco International
• David O’Reilly, group scientific director, British American Tobacco
• Roger Penn, director of tobacco business unit, Mane
• Ram Poddar, chairman, Tobacco Institute of India and chief mentor, Modi Group of Companies
• Philippe Ragot, global product manager LIP, SWM
• Sanjiv Rangrass, chief executive, Agri Business Division, Indian Tobacco Company Limited (ITC)
• Michiel Reerink, global regulatory vice president, Japan Tobacco International
• Brad Rodu, University of Louisville – Was originally listed as a speaker[REF]GTNF, GTNF ANTWERP 2012: Look who is talking and what they are talking about, GTNF 2012 website, undated, only available trough archive.org, capture dated 28 January 2012, accessed December 2013[/REF] but as of early April 2012 his name had disappeared.[REF]GTNF, GTNF ANTWERP 2012: Look who is talking and what they are talking about, conference website, undated, undated, only available trough archive.org, capture dated 22 April 2012, accessed December 2013[/REF]
• Charlie Rossignol, Leaf Partnership Manager, Imperial Tobacco
• Oded Shoseyov, faculty member, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Christopher Snowdon, author and historian
• Jim Solyst, ENVIRON International Corporation
• Mike Stevens, group head of leaf, British American Tobacco
• Jeff Stier, National Center for Public Policy Research, USA
• Juergen Tiemann, Director Leaf and Product Development, Imperial Tobacco Group
• Ron Tully, vice president new projects, National Tobacco Company
• Avi Tzur, CEO of Recon Inc
• Nico Vroom, managing director, EcO2
• Martin Zelder, senior lecturer, Northwestern University

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2019
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2018
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2017
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2016
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2015
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2014
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2013
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2010

References

The post Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2012 appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

• George Adams – Professor of Medicine at University of North Carolina
• Renato Addis – Partner at public affairs consultancy EPPA
• Vivien Azer – Tobacco industry analyst, Cowen and Co
• Scott Ballin – Former vice president of the American Heart Association. Adviser to the University of Virginia
• Germana Barba – Director of corporate affairs reduced risk products, Philip Morris International
• Patrick Basham – Director of the Democracy Institute
• Clive Bates – Founder of consulting and advocacy practice Counterfactual
• Ian Benson – Global marketing director, NDC Technologies, and expert in the implementation of on-line near-infrared measurements
• Erik Bloomquist – Senior analyst global consumer staples, Haitong Securities
• Vaclav Borkovec – Prototyping engineer at Fontem Ventures (owned by Imperial Tobacco)
• Bruce Clark – Vice President regulatory and scientific affairs at Philip Morris International
• Simon Clark – Director of the tobacco industry funded group Forest. Clark ran several pro-tobacco campaigns including Hands Off Our Packs (2012) and No Thank EU (2013), and established the tobacco industry front group Action on Consumer Choice.
• Seth Coblentz – General counsel at VMR Products, a manufacturer of vapour products
• Miguel Coleta – Sustainability officer at Philip Morris International
• Martin Cullip who blogs under the alias ‘Dick Puddlecote’ – ‘Consumer associate’ of New Nicotine Alliance, and spokesperson of The Freedom Association‘s ‘freedom to vape’ campaign
• Geoff Curtin – Senior director regulatory affairs at Reynolds American (RAI) Services Company
• Brittani Cushman – Vice President external affairs at Turning Point Brands, which manufactures smokeless tobacco and smoking tobacco in the US
• James Cutforth – Global sector manager for tobacco at Domino Printing Services
• Rui Faria da Cunha – Director general of the Society of European Affairs Professionals
• Sinclair Davidson – Professor of institutional economic at the Melbourne’s RMIT University
• Abrie du Plessis – Trade law consultant who previously was employed by the Rembrandt Group, and has a special interest in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
• Karl O Fagerstrom – Clinical psychologist and an expert in nicotine dependence and smoking cessation
• Jonathan Fell – Tobacco industry analyst and founding partner of Ash Park
• Michael Fisher – Associate principal scientist at Altria Client Services
• Dahlia Garwe – General manager of the Tobacco Research Board (Kutsaga) in Zimbabwe
• Andy Gaunt – Chief Commercial Officer at e-cigarette company Nerudia
• Giovanni Giordano – Director for Human Resources at British American Tobacco
• Simon Green – Managing director, Alliance One International
• Richard Grimer – head of product insight and innovation planning, British American Tobacco
• Carolyn Hanigan – President of RAI Innovations (RAI’s research arm)
• Angela Harbutt – Founder of the Liberal Vision blog, who worked with Forest on the Hands Off Our Packs (2012) and No Thank EU (2013) campaigns
• Jack Hennigfield – Vice president research, health policy and abuse liability at Pinney Associates
• Ian Jones – Vice president of emerging products corporate, scientific and regulatory affairs at Japan Tobacco International
• Mark Kehaya – Chairman of the board at Alliance International One
• Patricia Kovacevic – General counsel and chief compliance officer for e-liquid and e-cigarette manufacturer Nicopure Labcs
• David Levy – Professor of oncology at Georgetown University
• Mike Ligon – Vice President corporate affairs for Universal Corporation (parent company of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company)
• Mark Littlewood – Director general of libertarian think tank Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)
• Wieijuan Liu – Vice President and principal engineer of Yunnan Reascend Tobacco Technology (Group) Company
• Rolf Lutz – Director of product policy at Philip Morris International
• Barbara Martellini – Assistant vice president for corporate affairs at Universal Leaf Tobacco (formerly with Imperial Tobacco)
• Alan McGill – Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Marc Michelsen – Senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications at Fontem Ventures
• Christian Mulcahy – Business development director at multiCIG, a UK-based supplier of e-cigarettes and e-liquids
• Marina Murphy – Head of scientific media relations at British American Tobacco
• Ashok Narasimhan – vapour and e-liquid company AltimaLife
• Kyle Newton – Founder of Vapeix, the company behind the 7’s e-cigarette
• Ray Niaura – Director of science and training at the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies
• Mike Ogden – Vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at RAI Services
• Flora Okereke – Head of regulatory policy and engagement, British American Tobacco
• David O’Reilly – Scientific director and R&D director of British American Tobacco
• Carlos Palma – Global manager of sustainable agriculture at Souza Cruz (a British American Tobacco company), and representative of SindiTabaco, Brazil’s Union of Interstate Tobacco Industry
• Roger Penn – Director of the tobacco business unit at flavour and fragrance manufacturer Mane
• Ben Potter – Founder and director at Ecigwizard
• Taman Powell – Lecturer in strategic management and innovation at Cardiff University, and founder of the XOLO e-cigarette
• Christopher Proctor – Chief scientific officer at British American Tobacco
• Nataliya Pronge – Director of global regulatory strategy at Japan Tobacco International
• Howard Pugh – Senior specialist at Europol
• Michiel Reerink – Global regulatory strategy Vice President at Japan Tobacco International
• Christopher Russell – Behavioural psychologist and senior research fellow at the Glasgow-based Centre for Substance Use Research
• Vince Sauvalere – Head of tobacco and counterfeit goods unit at the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
• Tony Scanlan – CEO of UK division of US e-cigarette company Madvapes
• Lea Scott – Vice president of agronomy services at Universal Leaf Tobacco Company
• Jeroen Slobbe – Managing director of TDC of ITM group that specialises in tobacco machinery
• Christopher Snowdon – Head of lifestyle economics at libertarian think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)
• Jim Solyst – Vice President of federal regulatory affairs for Swedish Match North America
• Jeff Stier – Senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research
• David Sweanor – University of Ottawa;
• Florian Teischinger – Data scientist at Japan Tobacco International
• Marina Trani – Head of research and development for next generation products at British American Tobacco
• Run Tully – Founder of TNV Ventures, a management consultancy in the nicotine and tobacco sector
• Huub Vizee – Head regulatory affairs at the Delfortgroup (previously Imperial Tobacco)
• Rupert Wilson – Owner and managing director of UK-based Strategic Business Consulting
• Yushu Zhu – Independent chartered marketeer who has worked with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on custom strategy for drug development
• Jackie Zhuang – Co founder of Chinese e-cigarette and media trade show

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2019
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2018
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2017
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2015
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2014
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2013
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2012
• Global Tobacco Networking Forum 2010

References

The post Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2016 appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

“All the members work for patent and/or trademark… departments of large companies, as lawyers or as (university) lecturers.

“The association promotes and guarantees the quality of the professional practice of its members, ensuring you expert advice and guidance on registration (protection) of trademark and (industrial) design, negotiations and possible conflicts.”¹⁴

Screengrab of BMM members page for three JTI employees, June 2014.

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

As of June 2014, on its website, BMM listed three Japan Tobacco International (JTI) employees as members of the Association.¹⁵

Sister Associations

BMM is openly affiliated with a number of other associations that it refers to as its “Sister Associations”, including the European Communities Trademark Association (ECTA), Association of Trademarks and Designs Rights Practitioners (APRAM), the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR), MARQUES, and Union-IP. All of these associations lobby on Intellectual Property (IP) issues, and together they have lobbied in favour of upholding the intellectual property of tobacco companies.¹⁶

Against Plain Packaging

UK 2012: Shortly after the launch of the initial UK Government’s Consultation on Plain (standardised) Packaging for tobacco products in 2012, BMM and its sister organisations signed a joint statement issued by MARQUES arguing that the proposed legislation:

“would adversely affect the markets, with harmful impacts on the economy as a whole as would be derived from escalating counterfeiting and piracy throughout the EU and worldwide”.

It also stated that:

“trademarks…are relied upon by consumers as signposts of genuine goods and services…Trademarks also indicate the source of goods and services to assure consumers on the quality of the products that they purchase or that they would consider purchasing. This fundamental function cannot be fulfilled if trademarks are not noticeable, or unavailable…would lead to consumer confusion and therefore diminish the goodwill acquired in that brand through considerable investment and effort over a significant period of time. In fact the inability to call for or recognize a brand also takes away a consumer’s freedom of choice.”

The statement did not offer any evidence to support these concerns. Nevertheless, in its submission to the UK Consultation on plain packaging, Japan Tobacco International cited it as an argument against the policy.¹⁷
UK 2013: The sister associations issued a follow up to this statement in July 2013.¹⁸
UK 2014: On 25 June 2014, in response to Ireland’s decision to carry forward plain packaging legislation, BMM released another joint statement with its sister organisations and other affiliated intellectual property organisations. In the statement, the signatories expressed “great concern” over the Irish Government’s decision, stating that plain packaging laws “amount to an indirect legislative expropriation” of property rights and suggesting that implementing plain packaging requirements for tobacco products will only be the first of many such requirements for other “unhealthy” products.¹⁹ In closing, the signatories called upon the Irish Government not to proceed with the legislation and for other EU Member States to caution the Irish Government against such actions.
No factual evidence was quoted in the letter. Organisations’ affiliations with tobacco companies were also omitted; BMM, CSZV, ICC, MARQUES, and Unifab all have fee-paying tobacco company members, ECTA has members that are employees of tobacco companies, and Union-IP is a Sister Association of ECTA,APRAM, BMM,and MARQUES.

Opposing Measures in the EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision

In 2014 the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive was adopted, following a 5 year review mired with controversy, delays and tobacco industry interference, including an increased use of third party lobbying on the tobacco industry’s behalf. A study led by the University of Bath identified 137 associations that voiced support for policy options favoured by the tobacco industry,²⁰ including BMM and its sister associations. Furthermore, leaked Philip Morris documents reveal that IP was one of the main platforms that the tobacco industry planned to use to challenge the plain packaging measure in the TPD.²⁰

• To read more about the leaked Philip Morris documents, click PMI’s Lobbying Campaign to Undermine the TPD

In July 2013, prior to the TPD vote in the European Parliament’s Health Committee (ENVI), the BMM and several of its sister associations released a statement objecting to the provisions outlined in the proposed EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision.
The statement urged ENVI members to vote against plain packaging and “excessively large health warning labels on packaging” which the associations labelled ”extreme amendments” to the proposed TPD revision.¹⁸ BMM did not disclose that it had tobacco industry members.
In October 2013, shortly before the vote in Parliament’s plenary, BMM and its sister organisations issued another statement urging all Members of Parliament to vote against plain packaging and larger health warnings.²¹

• Joint Statement on the Tobacco Products Directive from APRAM, BMM, ECTA, GRUR, MARQUES, and UNION dated 4 October 2013

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Global Trademark and Intellectual Property Rights Groups
• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• Challenging Legislation
• Third Party Techniques
• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• Ronald van Tuijl

References

The post Beneluxvereniging voor Merken-en Modellenrecht appeared first on TobaccoTactics.