WORLD
An international trade body has set out a blueprint for a global tobacco control system that can cut fraudulent trade and promote best practices.
The proposed model has been created by the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA), a not-for-profit organization composed of suppliers of tax stamps and track and trace (T&T) systems to governments. Its aim is to contribute to the work being carried out on the implementation of a tobacco T&T system compliant with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products.
The publication of ITSA’s blueprint comes ahead of the second meeting of the FCTC working group on tracking and tracing systems in Brasilia in April. It draws on best practices used by tax administrations around the world in the fight against the illicit trade of tobacco products. It adheres strictly to the requirements of Article 8 of the protocol, which sets out that T&T systems should be independent of the tobacco industry.
It also resolves weaknesses that academics, civil society, and industry experts have detected in the European Union tobacco products directive (TPD) model by ensuring that competent authorities, in participating in the T&T regime, interact only to the extent strictly necessary with the tobacco industry and those representing the interests of the sector.
Within its blueprint, ITSA puts forward a series of recommendations on operational aspects of a T&T system and assignments of responsibility. The recommendations include establishing a national and/or regional database to register stakeholders (manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers) and products, and affixing on every pack of cigarettes a tax stamp issued by the competent authority of the destination market.
Many tax stamps now contain a combination of special designs, multiple security layers, a unique serial number, and encrypted codes that make them almost impossible to counterfeit. The proposed ITSA model differs markedly from the European Union TPD, which allows for the delegation of key activities to the tobacco industry or a supplier of its choice. In addition, the scope of TPD is limited to the EU whereas ITSA’s model is scalable on a global level.