The government has unveiled a new strategy to tackle the illicit tobacco trade.
In Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco, the government focuses on two main aims: reducing demand for illicit tobacco and tackling organised crime to reduce community harm.
To prevent illicit tobacco from being “a convenient and readily available option”, the government looks to build on Operation CeCe by increasing the level of funding and committing to its relationship with Trading Standards for the long term.
It also plans to improve intelligence sharing across HMRC and Trading Standards, ensuring the long-term success of Operation CeCe; tackle online sales of illicit tobacco on social media platforms, gathering intelligence on social media sales, and working with social media platforms and review current sanctions to work with landlords to close down any outlets that sell illicit tobacco on their premises and encourage them to terminate leases early where this is the case.
The government also hopes to create an environment that increases the risk to those criminals involved in the supply of illicit tobacco, forcing OCGs to go to greater, more expensive lengths, to smuggle products.
It plans to support the wider government campaign for a ‘smokefree generation’ strategy with communication activity to help tackle the trade and consumption of illicit tobacco and raise awareness of links to organised crime.
It said: “HMRC has responsibility as an enforcement agency to bring perpetrators of tax fraud to justice. We are committed to protecting society from harm and tackling those who set out to cheat the tax system.
“We will work to tackle organised crime within the UK, at the border, and overseas, using effective intelligence sharing and levying harsh penalties on those who break the law.”
To achieve this, it will establish a multi-agency illicit tobacco taskforce, bringing together colleagues from HMRC, Border Force, and Trading Standards into a single team that collaborates closely with other law enforcement and intelligence partners
It also plans to use policy and legislation to reduce opportunities for OCGs via extending access to Tobacco Track and Trace across HMRC and to Trading Standards; extending the Track and Trace system to include all tobacco products such as cigars, cigarillos, and shisha.
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