ALBANY – Philip Morris USA has agreed with 33 state attorneys to stop supplying illegal Internet and mail order cigarette dealers, state officials said yesterday.

The major tobacco company voluntarily agreed to end the shipments of any of its products to customers,American Indian tribes, and enterprises that the states deem illegal, said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The action is the third prong of the states’ efforts to curb the sale of cigarettes to minors over the Internet and by mail order, often to avoid substantial state sales taxes. In March, major credit card companies agreed to stop processing payments from Internet retailers. Months ago, shippers DHL and UPS agreed to stop shipping packages from the vendors.

“These illegal enterprises cannot remain in business without a steady supply of cigarettes, and thus restricting that supply can be very effective,” Mr. Spitzer, the case’s lead attorney, said.

A Philip Morris spokeswoman, Denise Keane, said the agreement builds on the company’s policies and programs to “preserve the integrity of our brands and the legitimate trade channels through which they are sold.

“Our voluntary agreement … sets a framework for continued information sharing with law enforcement and support of their efforts to eliminate illegal sales of Philip Morris USA products,” she said.

The company has agreed to change its practices nationwide, including:

* Ending shipments to any customers the attorneys general found engaged in illegal Internet and mail order sales.

* Reducing the amount of cigarettes sold to customers that state officials find resell the product to Internet retailers.

* Suspending the incentive programs of any retailer engaged in the illegal sales.

The attorneys general consider all Internet cigarette sales to be illegal because they violate one or more state or federal laws aimed at stopping sales to underage smokers and collecting sales taxes. They said many of the sales through foreign Web sites also violate federal smuggling, cigarette labeling, money laundering, and contraband laws.

The attorneys general involved represent Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Also involved are American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas.

A New York Health Department study in November found that more than a third of New York smokers regularly avoid the state’s high cigarette taxes by buying from Indian reservations, the Internet, or duty-free shops. Indian reservations, which as sovereign nations do not collect state tax, were the preferred source of cigarettes for 22% of smokers.