USPS settles lawsuit over illegal cigarette trafficking.

Photo credit: Will Milne

According to a report by the Associated Press, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has settled a lawsuit filed by New York City and four states over illegal cigarette transportation. The lawsuit was initially filed by the city and the state of California in 2019, with Connecticut, Illinois, and Pennsylvania joining in 2020.

The plaintiff argues that the Postal Service did not do enough in enforcing the 2010 Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which prohibits most shipments of cigarettes.

In a lawsuit, the plaintiff stated that tens of thousands of packages sent from other countries were being delivered through the postal system, and that when the packages were discovered, the agency would return them to the sender rather than destroy them. As part of a settlement agreement, USPS agreed to take measures to ensure compliance with the PACT Act, including enhancing screening to detect prohibited item packages and providing employee training.

The organization also agreed to destroy cigarette packaging instead of sending them back to the sender and issuing a letter to the sender indicating that cigarettes cannot be mailed.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a statement saying, "We will not sit idly by as foreign shippers bypass federal law to avoid billions of dollars in taxes and expose minors to nicotine use." The Postal Service stated that while it "believes it has always fully complied with federal law in handling cigarette packaging in international mail," it does support the goals of the settlement agreement. As a result, they have decided to settle the lawsuit and work with all parties involved in the case to advance these goals.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong stated, "The settlement forces the United States Postal Service to do everything in its power to prevent foreign smuggled cigarettes from entering the United States. These smuggled cigarettes have cost states including Connecticut hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue and impeded efforts to combat smoking.

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