Some years ago, I was asked to give a speech to a Latin American country’s customs authority with respect to fuel marking. To prepare for my presentation, I spoke to several suppliers and did some research with respect to alternatives and positive results around the world.

In 2023, we analysed how Chile’s cigarette traceability system, SITRAF (Sistema de Trazabilidad Fiscal) had been performing since its inception in 2019. At that time, a study conducted by local economists found that the implementation of the system in Chile had resulted in better control of legitimate sales and increased revenues.

Lebanon is one of the few nations where the tobacco sector, including tobacco leaf farming and manufacturing, falls under state control.

Looking back over the year that was, three key developments stand out from the rest, as captured in this article.

During the summer of 2021, I looked at the illicit trade that had started to spin out of control in Australia in the wake of the pandemic.

As previously reported in Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, the international standard for excise tax stamps, ISO 22382:2018, is now due its five- year review, in accordance with ISO procedures (the International Organization for Standards).

The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) has responded to a claim by economic advisory firm Oxford Economics (OE) that tax stamp-based track and trace systems are not compatible with the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, while ‘fully digital’ solutions, based on open standards, are.

One of the best comments coming out of the 11th Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™ (TSTF), held from 2-4 October in Tbilisi, Georgia, was from a revenue authority attending the forum for the first time. They said that now that they’d seen first-hand what they’d been missing by not attending this event, they would be sure to attend all security printing conferences in future.

Whether you use tax stamps or you don’t use tax stamps, let’s face it, illicit trade still exists. The difference is, tax stamps and associated track and trace and production monitoring systems help make illicit trade stand out more (like a sore thumb), plus they make it easier to trace illicit trade back to its origin, and identify at what point in the supply chain legal trade may have become illegal trade.

Following the news from the UK that tougher sanctions are being introduced on illicit tobacco sellers, this article takes a closer look at the close-knit network of organisations engaged in tackling illicit trade at retail level in the country.