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Stakeholder Dialogue 2006
Dialogue Summary
Between September 2006 and January 2007, British American Tobacco conducted a round of stakeholder dialogues and depth interviews to examine stakeholder expectations of the company at the European Union level, building on previous work done at the national and global levels to feed into the company's non-financial reporting. Each dialogue session
focused on a different issue in order to encourage in-depth discussion of each topic and the central dilemmas facing society and tobacco companies like British
American Tobacco. The key topics/areas were identified and confirmed through initial stakeholder research as:
- Harm reduction and science
- Excise and illicit trade
- Public place smoking
- Policy overview to discuss future tobbaco control measures
To date, the following sessions took place:
- Public Place Smoking (PPS) session, held in Brussels at the Radisson SAS EU Hotel on Wednesday 18 October 2006 and attended by seven expert stakeholders, together with four senior BAT managers
- Anti-Illicit Trade (AIT) and Counterfeit Product session, held in Brussels at the World Customs Organisation on Thursday 23 November 2006 and attended by thirteen expert stakeholders, together with six senior BAT managers
- Harm Reduction and Policy session, held in Brussels at the European Parliament on Wednesday 10 January 2007 and attended by seventeen expert stakeholders, together with seven senior BAT managers.
There were also three individual interviews with high-level EU stakeholders (conducted on 2 October, 20 November and 8 January), along with three individual interviews and one paired interview with science and research stakeholders (conducted on 13, 14 and 15 December and 8 January). Stakeholders were invited to the sessions by British American Tobacco. The dialogues were facilitated by an independent moderator and facilitator - Pavel Telička. Ipsos MORI attended in order to report on the discussions and Bureau Veritas provided independent verification.
The external attendees were largely members of the EU political community in Brussels.
42 stakeholders participated in the sessions and meetings representing:
- EU Commission (DG Sanco, DG Enterprise, DG Environment) (6)
- European Parliament (11)
- EU Permanent Representations (8)
- Social Partners and other public bodies (4)
- Business Associations (8)
- Scientific Community (5)
At the start of the dialogue sessions, British American Tobacco company representatives presented a quick overview of activities in each topic area and the key issues that the company sees affecting each subject.
- In the PPS session, it included an overview of the regulatory systems in place in the different member states to control smoking in public places and paid particular attention to Ireland's experience of imposing a blanket public smoking ban (highlighting the negative economic impact on the hospitality industry and the relatively small decline in the incidence of smoking among adults).
- In the AIT and Counterfeit Product session, it focused particularly on the price differential in different member states, and the points of exit/entry for illicit product.
- In the Harm Reduction and Policy session, it included an overview of Company's positions regarding harm reduction and a summary of previous stakeholder feedback on their expectations of British American Tobacco in the areas of harm reduction, PPS and AIT, presented by Ipsos MORI.