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Senate Bill Would Stop Tobacco Shipments by Mail

April 8, 2005

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Two New York officials have teamed up to support legislation to stop the shipment of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco through the U.S. Mail.

At a joint news conference with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) 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 authority to pursue violators.

"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."

"The Postal Service has become the delivery arm of a massive criminal enterprise shipping contraband cigarettes nationwide. The legislation that Senator Schumer is introducing will ensure that the Postal Service gets out of the cigarette delivery business," Spitzer said.

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.

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 let the Postal Service 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.

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