Tobacco producer fined for sponsoring Dutch student clubs

The Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA imposed fines on Japan Tobacco International (JTI) for making exclusivity agreements with Dutch student associations, a spokesperson for the NVWA confirmed to news wire ANP.

The NVWA investigated the potentially illegal connections between JTI and Dutch student associations after research by Tabak, a collaboration between investigative journalists and the Dutch Journal of Medicine. That research reveled that JTI paid Dutch student associations to exclusively sell Winston and Camel brands in cigarette vending machines within the walls of the associations, according to the news wire. The NVWA investigation found that this was indeed the case.

Trouw reports that the NVWA imposed nine fines on JTI. The NWVA spokesperson would not confirm this to ANP. He also would divulge the total amount of the fines, because the NVWA can not make this information public. He did say that the amounts start at 45 thousand euros, "and that can run up to high fines", according to the news wire.