Tobacco: Illicit Trade

Baroness Crawley Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Crawley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products and the European Union Tobacco Products Directive 2015, which state that there must be tracking and tracing systems in member states and that the parties to the Protocol may not delegate their responsibilities to the tobacco industry, what assessment they have made of whether the current pilot scheme to help tackle illicit tobacco, using the tobacco industry’s Codentify authentication system, is consistent with their obligations under the Protocol.

[Baroness Crawley (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and in doing so I remind the House of my presidency of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, the implementation process for the protocol and directive’s requirements for track and tracing systems has not yet been agreed. The Government will ensure that this complies with the requirement not to delegate responsibilities to the tobacco industry. HM Revenue & Customs sees no conflict between this requirement, or the more general restrictions on the involvement of the industry, and public health policy and its current use of Codentify as a product authentication tool.

[Noble Lords]

Order.

[Baroness Crawley]

I thank the noble Lord for his reply, especially as I understand that he has flown overnight from China to give it. But does he not agree that at a very difficult time for trading standards in attempting to halt the flow of illegal tobacco products, the tobacco industry cannot be allowed to regulate itself and use its own tracking and tracing system on packets of cigarettes, when there are far more independent and less flawed systems available to government?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I thank the noble Baroness for her kind remarks. As far as tracking and tracing is concerned, there are many systems that could be used. Until the EU has decided on the requirements, Revenue & Customs is not going to look at different systems. But when it does, it will look at them openly and not rely on the tobacco industry to do it—as it is required not to do under the convention.