Two US Senator announce legislation to ban shipment of tobacco through US Mail
10
March 2006
At a joint news conference with Spitzer, held at New York’s historic Farley Post Office, Schumer announced his bill
that would prohibit mailing cigarettes through the United States Postal Service, impose fines of at least $1,000 per
offense and jail time for repeat offenders. The bill would also give state Attorneys General the ability to pursue
those who ship tobacco in violation of the law.
“Passing this bill will be the final nail in the coffin for the sale of cigarettes on the Internet,”
Schumer said. “The U.S. Mail has become the last refuge for online cigarette merchants and it’s time
that this loophole be closed.”
Internet and mail order cigarette retailers operate in violation
of numerous federal, state and local laws, including tax laws, age verification laws, delivery
restrictions, reporting requirements, and federal wire fraud and mail fraud statutes. As a
result, a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies has been working on
several initiatives to stop these illegal sales, including federal and state criminal indictments
of cigarette sellers, seizures of contraband cigarettes, and efforts to strengthen cigarette
trafficking prohibitions.
Several states, including the New York, have laws prohibiting or restricting the shipment of
cigarettes and smokeless tobacco directly to consumers. Senator Schumer’s bill would make
cigarettes and smokeless tobacco non-mailable items, just as liquor, firearms, explosives
and even automobile master keys may not be shipped through the U.S. Mail. In addition the
legislation will allow the Postal Service to reject packages believed to contain tobacco products.
In the past year, DHL, FedEx and UPS have agreed to cease delivery of cigarettes to consumers
throughout the United States. In addition, in March 2005, the major credit card companies all agreed to
take steps to ensure that their credit card systems are not used to process payments that enable illegal
cigarette sales. Finally, last month, Philip Morris USA (PM USA) reached an agreement with a coalition
of 37 Attorneys General to cut off the supply of PM USA cigarettes to those engaged in such illegal sales. |
