Coalition Against Illicit Trade (CAIT)

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The Coalition Against Illicit Trade (CAIT) formed in June 2015, and is a group of organisations that are interested in addressing illicit trade across multiple sectors, including tobacco.[1]

The CAIT aims to “encourage collaboration and exchange best practice between industry, regulators and policymakers” and to deepen its understanding of “track & trace and anti-counterfeiting technologies and their practical application”.[2]

Some CAIT members are closely linked to the tobacco industry. This is not mentioned in the CAIT’s 2017 entry on the EU Transparency Register.[3]

Membership

The CAIT’s eight founding members are:[4]

Aegate

Aegate was a UK company which focussed on providing IT technology to digitally authenticate medicines. The company filed for insolvency in 2017, and is no longer a CAIT member.[5]

Arjo Solutions

Arjo Solutions is a security company, focussing on the design and creation of physical and digital identification methods for authentication and traceability of products. Arjo Solutions is part of the Impala Group and is the sister company of Inexto.[6] For more information on Inexto, and its role as a tobacco industry front group, see: Codentify. In July 2018, Arjo Solutions was no longer on CAIT's members list.[7]

Atos

Atos is a French IT services corporation, and was involved in developing the tobacco industry’s tracking and tracing system, Codentify.[8][9] A 2012 British American Tobacco (BAT) leaked email indicates that BAT was working “globally with two approved suppliers to represent Codentify”, naming Atos and FractureCode (also a CAIT member, see below).[10] Atos has promoted Codentify in Asia and has been involved in the implementation of Codentify in Lithuania alongside the Digital Coding & Tracking Association (DCTA).[11]

Domino

Domino is a printing and technology company, which says to have worked closely with the Codentify development team and the tobacco industry for over a decade. The company describes itself as a "global provider of Codentify"[12] and the “tobacco industry’s coding technology supplier of choice”.[13] In 2016, it was involved in a project to adapt Codentify to pharmaceuticals.[14]

Essentra

Essentra produces cigarette filters and packaging (including security solutions such as holographic products and specialist inks) and has been working with the tobacco industry for 65 years.[11][15]

  • Also see: Mike Ridgway who has lobbied against tobacco regulation on Essentra’s behalf.

FATA Logistic Systems

FATA Logistics is an Italian logistics company which has been associated with the development and promotion of Codentify in Italy.[11][16]

FractureCode

FractureCode is a Danish company which offers tracking and tracing, digital authentication and volume verification solutions including Codentify.[17] BAT used FractureCode in an attempt to influence a Kenyan tender on tracking and tracing technologies. In July 2018, FractureCode was no longer on CAIT's members list.[7]

ViDiTrust

ViDiTrust is a technology company which has patented a visual recognition technology aimed at controlling counterfeiting. Its website states that: “Tobacco, cigars and cigarettes are packaged for sales and are therefore in an excellent condition to benefit from the authentication and counterfeiting protection of ViDiTrust technologies.”[18]


Between June and August 2016, two additional organisations joined the CAIT: Nano4U and ScanTrust.[19]

Nano4U is a technology company which provides authentication technologies (including holographic and 3D scanning) for products and their packaging.[20]

ScanTrust is a Swiss secure graphics provider which produces QR and bar codes designed to identify the authenticity of a product.[21]

Outputs: Reports on Tracking and Tracing Solutions

The CAIT have released multiple reports examining tracking and tracing solutions as a means of combatting illicit trade.[22][23][24] The reports generally argue for more collaboration between the private sector and governments, and for industry to be responsible for the identification and operation of such technologies. The November 2017 report states that:

“more co-operation is required between companies and authorities, between countries of origin and destination, between independent standard setting bodies, economic operators in the supply chain, [and] regulators and enforcement authorities… Governments, international organisations and regional blocs, like the EU, have a role to play. But the involvement of all these levels of government, makes it sometimes hard to see the wood for the trees. They all also have a natural tendency to only focus on the problem within their own borders, ignoring the cross border implications.” [24]

None of the reports directly favour the tobacco industry’s tracking and tracing system Codentify. It is flagged in one report: “12-digit codes are used by the tobacco industry to address the problems of tax avoidance, smuggling, and counterfeiting and have proven very effective in the EU and beyond.”[24]

Pushed for Tobacco Industry Solution To EU System for Tracking & Tracing

On behalf of the CAIT, Worldline (an Atos company) lodged a submission to the 2015 consultation on an European Union (EU) system for traceability and security features.[25] The submission supported the option of “an industry-operated solution, with direct marking on the production lines carried out by tobacco manufacturers“, arguing that “the option is based on existing industry standards, which increases its cost efficiency and stimulates further developments in the field.”[25] The submission did not disclose that Atos or other CAIT members had relationships with tobacco companies.

The CAIT was also listed as a participant of a European Commission stakeholder workshop on the same topic.[26] Worldline released a position paper in response to the workshop, stating that any European Commission recommendations to be put forward should be “effective but also workable for all involved stakeholders: Member States and Competent Authorities, and all businesses actors involved in the supply chain”.[27]

Engagement with Authorities and Think Tanks

The CAIT actively engages in the debate on addressing illicit trade. In April 2017 CAIT joined the 5th OECD task force meeting on Illicit Trade and joined the Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade which meets as part of the OECD High Level Risk Forum of the Public Governance Committee. According to the CAIT’s website: “CAIT representatives attended the 5th Task Force meeting and had the opportunity to submit a paper that asked authorities to consider the use of digital verification technology among a wider range of technological and digital solutions to counter illicit trade.”[28]

In May 2017, CAIT member Domino presented at an event by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) titled ‘Combating Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade. Business Practices and Policy Direction on ICT Traceability & Authentication’. The event also featured presentations from representatives of OLAF, OECD, and the World Customs Organization.[29]

In November 2017, CAIT member Essentra participated in a CEPS seminar on business practices and policy developments in the fight against illicit trade. The CAIT website states that “Industry experts and representatives from the EU, OECD, WCO (World Customs Organization) and national authorities shared their perspectives and policy approaches to tackling this problem, also in non-EU countries.”[30]

TobaccoTactics Resources

TCRG Research

Notes

  1. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Launch of Coalition Against Illicit Trade (CAIT) to Fight Global Counterfeiting and Smuggling, 17 June 2015, accessed July 2018
  2. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Our mission & objectives, 12 June 2018, accessed July 2018
  3. ↑ EUROPA Transparency Register, Coalition Against Illicit Trade, last updated 10 October 2017, accessed July 2018
  4. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Members, 12 June 2016, accessed July 2018
  5. ↑ Securing Industry, Drug verification specialist Aegate files for insolvency, 21 June 2017, accessed July 2018
  6. ↑ Impala, Arjo Solutions & Inexto, 7 July 2018, accessed July 2018
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Members, 9 July 2018, accessed July 2018
  8. ↑ R. Bate, Smoking Out Illicit Trade: How Some Policies Intended to Limit Smoking Drive Illegal Trade, September 2016, accessed July 2018
  9. ↑ H. Ross, Measures to Control Illicit Tobacco Trade, 28 May 2015, accessed July 2018
  10. ↑ E. Jones, RE: FractureCode support for Kenya, 23 April 2012 and follow up email on 25 April 2012, April 2012
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 A. Gilmore, A.W.A. Gallagher, A. Rowell, Tobacco industry’s elaborate attempts to control a global track and trace system and fundamentally undermine the Illicit Trade Protocol, Tobacco Control, Published Online First: 13 June 2018
  12. ↑ Domino, Domino Tobacco Brochure, 12 July 2018, accessed July 2018
  13. ↑ Domino, Printing on cigarette packs, 12 July 2018, accessed July 2018
  14. ↑ Securing Industry, Domino draws on tobacco experience to help pharma serialize, 22 April 2016, accessed July 2018
  15. ↑ Essentra, Industries: Tobacco, 4 July 2018, accessed July 2018
  16. ↑ 24 Ore, Ecco "Codentify": tecnologia per tracciabilità prodotti tabacco, 16 September 2014, accessed July 2018
  17. ↑ Fracturecode, fracturecode.com, 19 April 2018, accessed July 2018
  18. ↑ ViDiTrust,Tobacco, cigars & cigarettes, 2 September 2017, accessed July 2018
  19. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Members, 12 August 2016, accessed July 2018
  20. ↑ Illicittrade.com, nano4u, undated, accessed July 2018
  21. ↑ VentureRadar, ScanTrust SA, undated, accessed July 2018
  22. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Governance and Data Management for Cross-border Tracking, Tracing and Authentication Systems, To Combat Illicit Trade and Counterfeiting, 6 December 2016, accessed July 2018
  23. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Coalition Against Illicit Trade launches new paper on best business practices for enhancing traceability and authentication, May 2017, accessed July 2018
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Implementing digital solutions to address the issue of cross border illicit trade, November 2017, accessed July 2018
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Atos Worldline, Coalition Against Illicit Trade, Response to Targeted stakeholder consultation on the implementation of an EU system for traceability and security features pursuant to Articles 15 and 16 of the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU, 30 July 2015, accessed July 2018
  26. ↑ European Commission, Stakeholder Workshop on implementation of Articles 15 & 16 of Directive, 2014/40/EU, Final Summary record,12 December 2016, accessed July 2018
  27. ↑ E. Lequenne, Fight against counterfeiting, smuggling and tax fraud!, Worldline website, March 2017, accessed July 2018
  28. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, CAIT joins the 5th OECD task force meeting on Illicit Trade and submits paper on consumer empowerment, 12 April 2017, accessed July 2018
  29. ↑ Centre for European Policy Studies, Combating Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade: Business practices and policy direction on ICT traceability and authentication, 10 May 2017, accessed July 2018
  30. ↑ Coalition Against Illicit Trade, CAIT member Essentra takes part in a CEPS seminar on Digital Traceability in the Fight against Illicit Trade: Improving rules and practices, 20 November 2017, accessed July 2018
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