UK Cigarette Packs To Contain Anti-Counterfeiting Chip
The UK tobacco industry will start placing an electronic chip in every cigarette pack made in the UK later this year. The major tobacco companies, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher, will supply British Customs with hand-held electronic readers to detect the chips. The chips will allow Customs to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit cigarettes. The chip program will initially target counterfeit cigarettes sold in small corner shops.
According to the Daily Mail, the UK tobacco industry estimates that about two billion counterfeit cigarettes were smuggled into the UK last year, depriving the government of nearly £500 million in import duties. The cigarettes are made in China, the Far East and Eastern Europe. They pose a greater health risk than genuine branded cigarettes, containing substantially more tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide.
This sounds like a great idea on paper, but what will they do when they start counterfeiting the anti-counterfeit chips?