News

The World Trade Organization has published its first report on illicit trade in food and food fraud. It includes contributions from participants in the WTO’s Annual Agriculture Symposium, held on 11 and 12 December 2023, which explored this topic.

Headlines:

• International trade has helped to reduce
  global hunger, but food fraud is a growing
  problem
• Illicit trade in food and food fraud inflict
  considerable damage to international trade
  and public health
• Illicit trade in food undermines global food
  security and agri-food value chains
• The WTO rulebook brings a legal framework
  to international trade in food, helping to
  combat illicit trade
• Reducing import and export restrictions could
  diminish incentives for smuggling and illicit
  trade in food
• Modern food safety legislation can minimize
  the potential for fraudsters to exploit gaps in
  the food supply chain
• Timely, thorough investigations can disrupt
  illicit trade in food and food fraud
• Public–private collaboration and international
  cooperation can help to combat illicit trade
  in food.

Read full report.

The Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) co-hosted a meeting on the 18 July 2019 on the negative impact of illicit trade on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The special UN dialogue exposed where and how progress on the SDGs is inhibited by illicit trade in some of the world’s most important economic sectors.

"From smuggling, counterfeiting and tax evasion, to the illegal sale or possession of goods, services, humans and wildlife, illicit trade is compromising the attainment of all 17 of the UN SDGs," stated TRACIT Director-General Jeffrey Hardy. "It is crowding out legitimate economic activity, depriving governments of revenues for investment in vital public services, dislocating millions of legitimate jobs and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human lives."

 Read full article.