Responding to TPD’s Articles 15 and 16

By Samantha Cooper, Essentra Tapes

As a category, tobacco remains a highly targeted product for counterfeiters. According to a study by the European Commission, the amount of duty that EU tax administrations lose to illicit trade has been estimated at €11.1 billion a year.

In light of this, the European Union introduced the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) in 2014, outlining laws and regulation around the manufacture, presentation, and sale of tobacco and related products, and has already started to make changes. In fact, on December 15, 2017, the European Commission (EC) implemented delegated acts to specify the technical details required for Articles 15 and 16 – regarding track and trace, authentication, tamper verification, and security features on tobacco products.

In a document titled ‘Commission Implementing Regulation on Technical Standards for the Establishment and Operation of a Traceability System for Tobacco Products’, the EC stated that all units of tobacco products are to be marked with a unique identifier that enables all items to be tracked and traced throughout the European Union.

These unique identifiers must be in alphanumeric format, not exceeding 50 characters, and determine multiple pieces of information, including the product description, the place of manufacture, the intended market of sale, and the intended shipment route. This information must be capable of being recorded and transmitted by all relevant operators in the supply chain and compatible with all specified scanning devices. These measures should undoubtedly help to combat the number of illicit products in the marketplace, whether they are produced within the EU or are manufactured in international markets.

However, track and trace alone is not enough. Essentra, a leading global supplier of tobacco filters and packaging, believes in the implementation of a multi-layered solution to provide enhanced security and assurance – as set out in Article 16 of the TPD and the ‘Commission Implementing Regulation on Technical Standards for Security Features Applied to Tobacco Products’. Indeed, this document states that all tobacco products must also carry “a tamper proof security feature, composed of visible and invisible elements,” in addition to serialization. This guarantees the authenticity of a product and that it originates from the genuine manufacturer.

The regulation requires member states to include at least five different authentication elements, of which at least one must be overt, one semi-covert, and one covert. These must be provided by an independent third-party provider, such as Essentra.

Overt solutions are visible to the naked eye and therefore allow authentication by the end-user. Solutions in this category, for example, color shift inks, can offer both security and the ability to provide stand out on-shelf appeal by enhancing a brand. However, overt technologies highlight exactly what a counterfeiter needs to target to convincingly replicate a product. As they rely solely on customer verification to distinguish genuine products from fakes, the counterfeiter only has to be good enough to deceive an untrained user.

Covert solutions are considered to offer a greater level of protection to a product, in comparison to overt options, as they are not visible and therefore more difficult to identify and target. Covert features will generally have a visible response when exposed to the correct activation condition, for example, UV light. Unfortunately, counterfeiters are becoming increasingly aware of these and are able to replicate these solutions too.

Taking this one step further, forensic-level features offer extremely robust determination of product authenticity, requiring specialist laboratory equipment to detect. One of the most effective and practical solutions – which Essentra strongly advocates – is the taggant system, a covert-forensic solution.

Most taggant systems currently in the marketplace use up-converting phosphors, which are characterized by their ability to convert invisible infrared light wavelengths to visible, colored light. Essentially, these taggants light up when hit with an infrared light. However since up-converting phosphors are a well-understood class of materials, with many published papers and manufacturers around the world, sophisticated counterfeiters are often very good at replicating or mimicking these solutions. Therefore, the best types of taggant systems on the market are those that are formed of uniformly doped, rare-earth based materials. These materials are similarly activated by infrared light but do not fluoresce in the visible spectrum. This provides a truly covert system that is undetectable in the field except by specific programmed readers.

Taggants can be applied in a variety of different ways, including gravure, litho, flexo, screen, spray, and injection moulding, making deploying the system simple and accessible for most packaging applications. As a transparent ink, it can be applied anywhere without distracting from the tobacco packaging or branding itself. However, for best results, it is recommended that it is applied in a specified, easily identifiable location. This makes in field testing quicker and more robust, as the user knows exactly where to find and test the taggant to ensure the authenticity of the product.

Ultimately, the primary objective of anti-counterfeiting solutions is to ensure that consumers are protected and receive the product that they intended to purchase. However, authentication is just one solution that can be deployed and does not offer 100% protection to a product or brand. Therefore, it is important to layer multiple elements, including serialization and tamper verification solutions. This means that protection is not reliant on a single element, increasing safety for the consumer and reducing the ease of counterfeiters being able to reproduce false products to a high standard.

With new delegated acts, and the EU TPD stating that all security features for cigarettes and RYO must be applied by May 2019, most suppliers have already ensured their portfolio of products meet all regulatory requirements. For those that haven’t, it is important that they act now to ensure everything is in place for next year.