Implementing regulation 2023/448 - Amendment of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 65/28

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 (2) sets out the rules for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products. The traceability system aims to provide Member States and the Commission with an effective tool that enables the tracking and tracing of tobacco products throughout the Union and the identification of fraudulent activities that result in illicit products being available to consumers.

In this regard, the operational rules of the traceability system play an important role in ensuring that the Commission and the Member States receive the data they need in order to ensure the proper functioning of the tobacco traceability system and control of the application of the tobacco traceability legislation as well as enforce this legislation respectively.

The traceability system established in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 started collecting data on tobacco products’ movements and transactional data on 20 May 2019. Experience in its implementation has further demonstrated the importance of high quality, accuracy, completeness and comparability of the data that need to be recorded and transmitted to the system in a timely manner.

In its report on the application of Directive 2014/40/EU of 20 May 2021 (3), the Commission stressed that the Member States and the Commission had considerable problems with the quality of traceability data, for example in relation to value added tax numbers, information on production machines or information on last movements of products to retail outlets. In particular, the current definition of machines should be amended to reflect the various machines’ configurations adopted in the sector and address the observed bad quality of information on machines. The report also concluded that data quality remains critical for enforcing the tobacco traceability legislation and for fully attaining the traceability system’s objectives.

The discussions between the Commission and the Member States taking place on a regular basis in the framework of the Expert Subgroup on Traceability and Security Features have further demonstrated that only robust, complete and good-quality data can ensure a fully functional and successful traceability system. For the monitoring and use of these data, the Member States and the Commission need to be equipped with effective analytical tools and technical solutions, in particular necessary interfaces that enable them to access and query the data stored in the repositories system.

Based on the gathered experience and knowledge, there is a need to amend certain technical rules laid down by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 in order to facilitate the reporting by all actors involved in the trade of tobacco products, reinforce the good practices in terms of data management and analysis, and consequently, improve the functioning of the traceability system for tobacco products. These technical rules concern the operation of the various components of the repositories system, the tasks...