EU Tobacco Traceability – An Industry-Managed System?

In the May 2024 issue of Tax Stamp & Traceability News™, we described how a white paper published by an informal EU parliamentary working group on tobacco products had highlighted the permeability of some European Commission departments to tobacco industry lobbying. The paper raised concerns that such permeability was causing delays in the revision of two important tobacco regulations: one on taxation and one on traceability.

We have since obtained the full text of the white paper and note how it describes, at length, the influence of industry lobbying on the development and implementation, in 2019, of the EU-wide tobacco traceability system mandated under the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

We felt it important, this month, to cover this subject in a bit more detail. This is because the EU traceability system is often used as a benchmark by countries outside the EU for developing their own programmes. We, therefore, thought it necessary to draw their attention to the fact that some EU parliament members consider the system to be ineffective because it lacks independence from the tobacco industry.