The National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) in Bahrain has launched its digital tax stamp and traceability system on cigarettes, following the signing of a contract with De La Rue in 2021.

For tobacco product manufacturers required to comply with the traceability provisions of the EU TPD, the placing of individual identifying codes on each pack, and then on each carton is a challenging additional step in the production process.

The Smoke Free Partnership, a European coalition of NGOs working to mobilise governments to make tobacco control a political priority, has raised concerns about the track and trace provisions of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

Eighteen months after lifting its cigarette ban, South Africa still struggles with inflated illicit sales, proving that the experts were right when they said the ban would entrench illicit trade into the day-to-day life of the country and make it very difficult to eradicate.

The Smoke Free Partnership, a European coalition of NGOs working to mobilise governments to make tobacco control a political priority, has raised concerns about the track and trace provisions of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

The World Conference on Tobacco or Health recently hosted a virtual summit, in partnership with – among others – the World Health Organisation, WHO FCTC Secretariat and Framework Convention Alliance.

Four countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam – could have collected an additional $4.81 billion in tax revenue over the last two years and prevented more than 1.3 million premature deaths, if they had had an effective tobacco tax policy in place, claims a recent study released by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

Malta is showing the world how to address the complex problem of illicit tobacco – ie. by adopting a steady and consistent approach.

In this article, we examine the illicit tobacco trade in Australia and how it is continuing to evolve. We look at what continues to drive smokers to seek illicit tobacco, but also what criminal networks did when looking to source and traffic illicit tobacco products into Australia during the pandemic.

KPMG’s annual study of the illicit trade in tobacco in Europe is a robust and well-established study of illicit trade trends in Europe since its inception in 2006.