The tobacco industry is being accused of trying to control track-and-trace measures because it is complicit in the smuggling of its own products.
Using a range of internal documents and whistleblower testimony as sources, a study by the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath claims the industry is now going to elaborate lengths to control the global track-and-trace system that the United Nations has said must be put in place to counter smuggling.
The study also claims that while tobacco companies complain about the smuggling of cheap, illegally-made copies of their brands, two-thirds of the illicit tobacco market is made up of genuine product.
“At best, evidence indicates that tobacco companies are failing to control their supply chain, over-producing in some markets (e.g. Ukraine), and oversupplying others (e.g. Belgium) in the knowledge their products will end up on the illicit market,” says the paper.
Even more, the study accuses the industry of trying to give the track-and-trace system Codentify the impression of independence “via a complex system of front groups and third parties” to comply with WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.