Algirdas Šemeta, EU commissioner for taxation, customs, anti-fraud and audit, today opened a high-level conference in Dublin to reinforce EU-US cooperation in the fight against cigarette smuggling.

The aim of the conference is to bring together the top experts in this field to see how transatlantic cooperation can be further strengthened when it comes to identifying and dismantling organised crime groups and undermining tobacco smugglers. The illegal cigarette trade costs EU taxpayers an estimated EUR 10 billion a year in lost revenue. It also contributes to even greater problems, such as funding terrorism and organised crime. Given the global nature of the tobacco illegal trade, EU-US cooperation is vital to ensure the success of international operations to fight it. The Commission's Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the member states already work closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States in tackling international cigarette smuggling, and a number of successful operations have resulted from this cooperation.
This is the first such high-level conference to be held between the EU and the US on cigarette smuggling, and both sides are represented by experts and law-enforcers in this field. In addition to Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan, who opened the conference with the commissioner, EU participants include members of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and investigators and prosecutors from the member states. On the US side, the US Department of Justice, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau are all represented. (ci)