Moldova is preparing to establish a national tobacco traceability system
The Ministry of Finance has submitted for public consultations a draft government decision on the establishment and functioning of a national tobacco traceability system and the appointment of a national body to manage the national traceability system. The document contains a technical regulation that establishes standards for the creation and functioning of a national system of traceability of tobacco products produced or imported on the territory of Moldova. Thus, according to the draft regulation, within the traceability system, identification marks will be applied to all single packages, all cartridges and any external packaging of tobacco products, cartons, pallets. These marks will be stored in a database, scanned throughout the supply chain and must contain information on date, place of production, equipment used to produce tobacco products, destination, detailed product description, etc.). The regulation also stipulates that economic operators will register the arrival of all single packets in their possession. The document details the procedure for identification marking, the procedure for organizing a data depository, data quality requirements, basic data to be provided by economic operators, etc. The purpose of such a system is to reduce the turnover of non-conforming tobacco products and artificially cheapened supplies of illegal products, reduce illegal trade in tobacco products, and increase budget revenues. The regulation may come into force in March 2026. Thus, tobacco products produced in Moldova or imported for marketing purposes in Moldova until March 21, 2026 and not marked with unique identification marks will be able to remain in free circulation until the end of 2027. 13.6 million lei will be needed for the implementation of the tobacco traceability system in 2025-2026. Consultations on the draft are open until December 5: https://goo.su/RVXzU. //25.11.2024 - InfoMarket.
