JTI Philippines is pushing ASEAN to align export rules, requiring tobacco shipments to meet destination-market tax, packaging and labeling requirements. Photo credit: Colin Behrens, Pixabay.
JTI is calling on ASEAN governments to establish common regional rules for high-risk and sensitive goods, arguing that differences between national systems create opportunities for illicit tobacco shipments to move across borders.
JTI Philippines is proposing an “ASEAN Declaration on Harmonizing Rules to Combat Illicit Trade in High-Risk and Sensitive Goods.” The proposed framework would require tobacco products and other high-risk goods exported from one ASEAN market to comply not only with the rules of the country of origin, but also with the fiscal, packaging, labeling, tax-marking, and other requirements of the destination market.
The company says the approach would address situations in which products manufactured legally in one market later enter illicit channels in another. JTI emphasized that the proposal would not harmonize domestic tobacco policies or override national regulations. Instead, it would focus on cross-border controls and cooperation between authorities.
JTI’s proposed guidelines include stronger export controls, customs cooperation, interoperable track-and-trace systems, and intelligence sharing. They could also require tighter proof-of-export documentation, information sharing on illicit routes and diversion schemes, and greater use of real-time monitoring for goods crossing borders.
The proposal comes as illicit tobacco continues to generate substantial losses across the region. An EU-ASEAN Business Council and Euromonitor International study estimates that governments in six ASEAN markets—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—lost US$13.1 billion in revenue in 2024 and 2025 to illicit tobacco. The illicit tobacco market generated an estimated US$12.6 billion during the same period. Indonesia recorded the largest government revenue loss at US$5.6 billion, followed by Malaysia and the Philippines at US$2.5 billion each.
The study also found that illicit cigarette sales across the six markets increased 14% in the past year, while illicit e-vape sales rose 24%. Illicit cigarettes and e-vapes accounted for an estimated 23.6% of combined consumption in 2025, or about 145 billion units, and the share could reach 27.8%, or roughly 170 billion units, by 2028.
The Philippines accounted for US$2.5 billion of the regional revenue loss. JTI estimates that illicit tobacco cost the Philippine government PHP141 billion (US$2.5 billion) over the past two years, with roughly one in four cigarettes sold in the country considered illicit.
JTI Philippines director for fiscal and regulatory affairs Mario Zinampan said, “Illicit tobacco trade is a regional problem that requires a coordinated regional response. Because the problem crosses borders, the solution must also cross borders. A resilient ASEAN economy must be able to resist the spread of illicit trade.”
JTI also cited UN Office on Drugs and Crime findings linking tobacco smuggling with organized criminal and terrorist networks, and noted that maritime routes used for tobacco smuggling can also carry drugs, weapons, and people.