EU Commission combats illicit trade in tobacco products

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis welcomed on Friday the adoption of a set of legal acts aimed at combatting illicit trade in tobacco products.

"The new EU-wide track and trace system adopted today will ensure that tobacco products in the EU are easily traceable with a unique identifier for each product. In addition, we are also making sure that tobacco products meet specific security requirements, with at least five types of authentication elements required per packet," added the Commissioner.

According to Andriukaitis, the track and trace system and the security requirements should be fully functional by 20 May 2019 for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco and by 20 May 2024 for all other tobacco products (such as cigars, cigarillos and smokeless tobacco products).

According to a Berlaymont announcement, the Commission conducted a thorough consultation process to prepare the legal acts, while the views of all relevant stakeholders were sought via 1) a targeted stakeholder consultation; 2) a 12 week public consultation; and 3) the organisation of two stakeholder workshops in Brussels, before being published by the Commission's website in September 2017.

Furthermore, EU member states may also lay down formal guidelines or requirements on the security of production and distribution procedures to protect against forgery or theft, like insisting on the use of secure equipment, regular audits, monitoring tools for production quantities, and secure shipping.