De La Rue plc (LON:DLAR) has signed a £3.5mln contract with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to deliver track and trace service for all UK tobacco products. The FTSE Small Cap banknote printer said the five-year contract will see it implement a digital solution to track and trace the around 1.7 bln cigarette and hand-rolling tobacco packs sold in the UK each year through a unique identifier.
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Ensuring the traceability of all tobacco products is now a legal requirement under the EU Tobacco Products Directive, Article 15, with the specific aim of preventing the illicit trade of tobacco products throughout the EU and protecting citizens from counterfeit products which could be damaging to their health. In the European Union, over 527bln cigarettes were produced in 2016, according to Eurostat figures. De La Rue launched its track and trace digital solution, DLR Certify in 2015 as part of its strategy to bolster its software and services offerings. In 2018, it won a five-year contract to implement a full track and trace solution for the Federal Tax Authority in the UAE to be initially applied on tobacco products.