The OECD Task Force on Charting Illicit Trade was set up in April last year. Its aim is to map the economic activities of criminal networks, by gathering data on volumes and flow of illegal trades and agreeing on common methodologies. The second step will be to identify the conditions and policies that encourage or inhibit different sectors of illegal trade, whether production, transit or consumption. Last, the Task Force will develop tools to help public and private sector decision-makers to better target prevention to curb illicit trade.
Sub-groups have been set up, including one on alcoholic beverages. spiritsEUROPE is co-leader of this project that will help scope the magnitude of the problem we are facing in many markets. To help the process, we help to gather data and knowledge from producers of alcoholic beverages around the globe.
The European spirit drinks producers together produce about 37.5 million hectolitres of spirit drinks valued at over €23 billion, approximately two-thirds of which are exported. The EU spirit drinks industry spends approximately €15 billion on goods and services for the production and sale of spirit drinks. An estimated 80% of those expenditures are spent on domestically-produced goods and services. It is an important, export-oriented sector, generating huge trade surpluses each year, whose roots are firmly European. Non commercial alcohol cuts into the sector, thereby reducing our ability to grow, invest, employ; but also cuts into the tax revenues that national exchequers could normally expect to receive. We believe that cost can be counted in billions. Last but not least, illicit alcohol production and counterfeit spirit drinks can also pose a serious health threat by providing consumers with inferior or even toxic products. Globally, over the past 10 years or so, more than 1,200 deaths have resulted from the consumption of illegal alcohol. In addition to methanol, other undesirable contaminants such as heavy metals and compounds migrating from food contact materials have been noted in illicit alcohol above recommended dietary intake levels, signalling inferior production methods.
Reduction of illicit alcohol usage is a key area on which legitimate businesses and governments can work together and we look forward to hear about the initial results of this combined efforts at this meeting of the OECD Task Force.
