Why governments cannot afford Codentify to support their track and trace solutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 706-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Ross ◽  
Michael Eads ◽  
Michael Yates
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Multinomial Distribution ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
Security Technologies ◽  
System A ◽  
Small Market ◽  
Repeated Sampling ◽  
Enforcement Authority ◽  
Front Groups

BackgroundIn anticipation of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP) entering into force in 2018, there is a growing demand for information on track and trace (T&T) solutions for tobacco products. This article contrasts the efficacy of Codentify from the perspective of authentication with that of material-based multilayered security technologies.MethodTo calculate the probability of detecting one fraudulent pack under Codentify, we relied on a modified Bernoulli trial experiment with independent repeated sampling without replenishment. The probability is calculated using a multinomial distribution formula adjusted for the fact that both legitimate and non-legitimate packs may be sold in the market.ResultsIn a relatively small market, a law enforcement authority would have to inspect over 27 000 (almost 31 000) packs per week to have a 90% (95%) certainty that it did not miss a fraudulent pack under the Codentify system. A material based T&T solution would require only 45 (59) pack inspections a week to have the same level of confidence.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the inefficiency of Codentify compared to other solutions that incorporate material-based security features. Signatories to the ITP should reject Codentify due to both its low efficacy and its clear violation of the ITP’s requirement that T&T shall not be performed by or delegated to the tobacco industry or its front groups.

scholarly journals Introduction of standardised packaging and availability of illicit cigarettes: a difference-in-difference analysis of European Union survey data 2015–2018

Thorax ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony A Laverty ◽  
Christopher Millett ◽  
Nicholas S Hopkinson ◽  
Filippos T Filippidis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
Difference In Difference ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Difference Analysis ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
European Union Countries ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Uk

Standardised packaging of tobacco products is intended to reduce the appeal of smoking, but the tobacco industry claims this increases illicit trade. We examined the percentage of people reporting being offered illicit cigarettes before and after full implementation of standardised packaging in the UK, Ireland and France and compared this to other European Union countries. Reported ever illicit cigarette exposure fell from 19.8% to 18.1% between 2015 and 2018 in the three countries fully implementing the policy, and from 19.6% to 17.0% in control countries (p for difference=0.320). Standardised packaging does not appear to increase the availability of illicit cigarettes.

Flag Verification on the High Seas: Understanding Requirements for Masters and Commanders

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeline Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Enforcement Authority ◽  
The Right ◽  
Proper Balance ◽  
High Seas

Operational reporting from the Middle East indicates that the exercise by warships of a right of visit on the high seas, in order to verify the flag of the boarded vessel, is an important part of contemporary maritime enforcement operations. However, this reliance on ‘flag verification boardings,’ pursuant to Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, challenges the proper balance of law enforcement authority against the traditional freedom of navigation. It is therefore necessary to establish clearly for both civilian masters and warship commanders where the evidentiary threshold for reasonable doubt as to the nationality of vessels lies, so as to justify non-consensual visit and search by a foreign warship. This article makes an objective, evidence-based assessment of the threshold, concluding with a caution against over-stretching the right of visit to accommodate law enforcement purposes not envisaged in the drafting of Article 110.

scholarly journals Local Self-Government in the Public Government System: A New Constitutional Dimension

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
Oleg A. Kozhevnikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Public Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
System A ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Law

The article analyzes certain provisions of the Law of the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation of March 14, 2020 No. 1-FKZ “On improving the regulation of certain issues of the organization and functioning of public power” in terms of regulatory regulation of local self-government. According to the analysis the author comes to the conclusion that with the entry into effect of the mentioned legal act the content of individual elements of the constitutional-legal bases of local self-government will change, but the nature and scope of modifications in many respects will depend on the provisions of the rules of sectoral legislation aimed at implementing the relevant provisions of the Constitution. In this regard, the Federal legislator has a huge responsibility to create an “updated” legal framework for the implementation of the constitutional foundations of local self-government, taking into account the already established law enforcement practice, the positions of the constitutional court of the Russian Federation, as well as the state's international obligations under the European Charter on local self-government.

scholarly journals Turning a threat into an opportunity: British American Tobacco’s weakening of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2020-055837
Author(s):  
Benoît Gomis ◽  
Allen William Andrew Gallagher ◽  
Andy Rowell ◽  
Anna B Gilmore
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Tobacco Taxes ◽  
Philip Morris ◽  
National Implementation ◽  
Legal Costs ◽  
Illicit Tobacco Trade ◽  
Final Text

BackgroundPrevious research has outlined transnational tobacco company (TTC) efforts to undermine implementation of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (Protocol) and evidence of ongoing TTC complicity in the illicit tobacco trade (ITT). However, the industry’s views on the Protocol and role in its development are not well understood.MethodsSystematic searching and analysis of leaked documents—approximately 15 000 from British American Tobacco (BAT) and 35 from Philip Morris International, triangulated via searches of online resources and interviews with five stakeholders across academia, international organisations, governments, civil society and the private sector.FindingsEvidence indicates that after privately viewing the Protocol as a significant threat (2003), BAT worked to influence its content, while publicly signalling support for it (2007–2012), and was largely satisfied with the final text. BAT successfully pushed for a non-prescriptive text which enabled further country-level TTC influence during the Protocol’s implementation phase. The final text also reflected other BAT policy preferences, including preventing outright bans on duty-free sales and intermingling, and making it difficult to sanction and hold tobacco companies accountable for ongoing involvement in the ITT. TTC representatives were present during early Protocol negotiations, despite rules against this, and BAT obtained draft texts before they were public and paid at least one delegate to support its position.ConclusionsBAT’s primary interest in shaping the Protocol was to minimise its financial and legal costs for BAT while maximising potential costs to small competitors. These findings raise concern about the Protocol’s ability to control the ITT, particularly given TTCs’ intention to influence ongoing national implementation. An effective Protocol is vital to controlling both the ITT and ongoing tobacco industry involvement in it and, in turn, governments’ ability to increase tobacco taxes and thereby save lives.

scholarly journals Tobacco industry’s elaborate attempts to control a global track and trace system and fundamentally undermine the Illicit Trade Protocol

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna B Gilmore ◽  
Allen W A Gallagher ◽  
Andy Rowell
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Regulatory Capture ◽  
Excise Tax ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
Philip Morris ◽  
Tax Payments ◽  
Data Investigation ◽  
Front Groups ◽  
T System

BackgroundThe Illicit Trade Protocol (ITP) requires a global track and trace (T&T) system to reduce tobacco smuggling. Given the tobacco industry’s (TI) historical involvement in tobacco smuggling, it stipulates that T&T ‘shall not be performed by or delegated to the tobacco industry’. This paper explores the rationale for & nature of the TI’s effors to influence the ITP & its T&T system.MethodsAnalysis of leaked TI documents and publicly available data; ,investigation of front groups, trademark and patent ownership.FindingsGrowing & diverse sources of evidence indicate that the TI remains involved in tobacco smuggling and that TI cigarettes account for around two-thirds of the illicit cigarette market. The TI therefore has a vested interest in controlling the global T&T system aimed to curtail this behaviour. To this end, Philip Morris International (PMI) adapted its pack marker system, Codentify, to meet T&T requirements, licensed it for free to its three major competitors who then collectively promoted it to governments using front groups and third parties including companies claiming to be independent despite clear TI links. PMI also sought to suggest Codentify was independent by selling some parts of its intellectual property on Codentify while retaining others, leaving a complex web of shared interests. In Africa, British American Tobacco used payments to obtain data suggesting its smaller competitor companies were evading taxes and secure influence with tax authorities. Regulatory capture has been enhanced by a public relations effort involving TI funding for conferences, training, research, and international police and anti-corruption organisations. Collectively this has created public messaging and a powerful network of organisations supportive of the TI’s misleading postion on illicit.ConclusionsGovernments should assume the TI seeks to control T&T systems in order to avoid scrutiny and minimise excise tax payments and that any T&T system based on Codentify, on intellectual property currently or previously owned by the TI, or being promoted or implemented by companies with TI links, is incompatible with the ITP and would not serve to reduce illicit trade.

Principles of legal regulation of building land

10.12737/525 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-147
Author(s):  
Елена Болтанова ◽  
Elena Boltanova
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Underground Space ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Comprehensive Development ◽  
Federal Laws ◽  
Enforcement Authority ◽  
Under Construction

In this article the author proves that the legislation on land development should be based not only on those principles, which are already reflected in the current federal laws, but also on the following fundamental principles: greening the norms constituting the legal regime of built-up land and land subject to development; the ecosystem approach to the use of natural objects for construction of a balanced and comprehensive development of underground space under construction in the cities; payment for the use of natural sites for construction. These principles must become mandatory for the legislator and the law enforcement authority and provide the basis for design of other norms governing the construction land.

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