Our products

Combatting illegal trade

We lead the industry in combatting illegal tobacco trade through our partnerships with law enforcement agencies and governments, as well as the development of state-of-the-art technologies.

What does this mean for JTI?

JTI aims to support governments and law enforcement to prevent all forms of illegal trade in tobacco products including diversion or counterfeiting of JTI brands. The scope includes the illegal manufacture, distribution, import, export, purchase, storage, sale, or possession of JTI products in contravention of national or international legislation, or JTI’s intellectual property rights.

Illegal tobacco negatively impacts society, reduces government tax revenues, supports organized crime, undermines legitimate tobacco business and damages reputation.

We closely monitor our markets and customers to ensure that JTI tobacco products only reach adult consumers through legal trade channels in their intended destination markets.

What does this mean to me as an employee?

In support of JTI’s efforts to secure a legal tobacco supply chain, I ensure that any business partner I engage with is made aware of the JTI Business Partners Standards and relevant JTI policies. Any business partner who purchases or handles our tobacco products must be reputable and vetted through our supplier and customer certification programs.

I will immediately report any suspicious transaction or activity involving a JTI business partner or product to a member of the Anti-Illicit Trade or Compliance teams.

What does this mean for our business partners?

We expect all business partners to safeguard JTI’s and their own business operations and supply chains against any form of illegal trade. Moreover, we expect full cooperation from our business partners with our supplier and customer certification programs and investigations into the diversion of our trademarks.

Our Anti-Illicit Trade team cooperates with law enforcement and investigates any seizures of JTI product. If an investigation puts any of our business partners’ reputations in doubt, we take the appropriate action to secure our supply chain, including terminating business relationships where necessary.

In numbers

  • “1 out of 10 cigarettes around the world is illegal, on average” (Source: World Bank and Euromonitor)
  • “40-50 bn USD is lost each year in global tax revenue” (Source: World Bank and Euromonitor)

Find out more