Packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products imported or manufactured in Europe will be assigned a unique code. Manufacturers will fund tagging and tracking. The objective is to fight against tobacco trafficking.
NATIONAL PRINTING TO GENERATE TOBACCO TRACEABILITY CODES
Tobacco traceability, let's go! Since Monday, the obligation to mark each pack of cigarettes, then to inform its route from the factory to the retailer, will be implemented in all European countries simultaneously. Provided for by the European directive of April 2014, traceability was transposed into French law in November, and was the subject of a decree in March. Unlike current marking systems, initiated and managed by manufacturers, it aims to be independent: it is the National Printing Office which generates the unique codes affixed to each tobacco product.
Loïc Josseran, the president of the association " Alliance against tobacco », Is delighted with this progress: « We will finally be clear on the activity and sales of manufacturers. When we intercept a shipment in France, we will know if it is destined for the Spanish, French or Belgian market. ».
According to this activist, the impact of smuggling in France is deliberately overestimated by industrialists, who spread alarmist figures in order to discredit public policies against smoking - neutral package or increase in excise duties. « We will finally rumor the rumors, and show that it is not just sales in the official network that fall, but also the prevalence of smoking. »he welcomes.
The only downside in Loïc Josseran's eyes is that the trusted third parties chosen to store the unique codes - Atos, Dentsu Aegis, IBM, Movilizer, Zetes - some have indirect links with tobacco manufacturers, and « may still interfere ».
The new traceability will make it possible to tax tobacco purchased abroad, hopes the deputy for Freedom and Territories François-Michel Lambert: « In three or four years, we will know how many cigarettes have been sold in Luxembourg and consumed in France. We can claim the application of French taxation », explains the elected ecologist. In Luxembourg or Andorra, tobacco companies sell many more packages than the local population can consume. It is a way for them to irrigate the French market without being taxed at 80%, presume the anti-tobacco leagues ...
Source : Lesechos.fr/
