FedEx Corp. said on 8 February 2006 it has reached an agreement with attorneys general in several states to further curb interstate shipments of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The Memphis-based company, including its cargo airline FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, already prohibits tobacco sellers from shipping products to customers in the US, but under the new deal announced FedEx agreed to take action against companies that repeatedly violate the policy. That could include barring the violators from using FedEx services, according to the attorneys general.The effort has been led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has mounted a campaign to stop Internet sales of tobacco products that he says has cut into local and state tax revenues and makes it easier for them to get in the hands of minors. Spitzer's office said that FedEx joins DHL, a unit of German postal service Deutsche Post AG, and Atlanta-based UPS Inc. in the agreement not to ship tobacco to US customers. Last month Philip Morris USA, the nation's biggest tobacco company voluntarily agreed to end shipments of any of its products to customers, Indian tribes and enterprises that 37 states deem illegal. Last March major credit card companies agreed to stop processing payments from Internet retailers. Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers said that his office contacted Memphis-based FedEx on behalf of the multistate effort. (pi)