Background

The OECD Task Force on Charting Illicit Trade (TF-CIT) is organised in the context of the OECD High Level Risk Forum to foster policy oriented solutions to illicit commercial activity.

With the active support of over 90 participants from governments, multinational enterprises, international organisations, think tanks and academia from OECD as well as non-OECD countries, the purpose of the first meeting of the Task Force was to:  

• Share data and information reflecting the monetary value of illicit trade in tobacco and alcohol, human trafficking, illegal narcotics, counterfeit medicines and   to enable mapping of the volume, flows and trends of trade in these sectors as well as the impact to society.
  
  
• Explore options for the development of a visualisation tool to better target prevention and mitigation efforts in strategic markets.
  
  
• Exchange knowledge about effective policies and practices to reduce, monitor, control or otherwise prevent illicit trade, at the level of production, transit and consumption.
  
  
• Consider how a whole of government approach to preventive policies  might avoid unintended policy outcomes  such as creating opportunities for arbitrage that contribute to illicit trade.
  
  
• Identify opportunities for public private partnerships which could counter or mitigate the operation of transnational organised crime, especially through the reinforcement of supply chain security.

Policy context

The ability of transnational criminal networks to conduct illicit trade in new markets and exploit weakly governed territories reveals the relative weakness of current governance regimes. To address this quickly evolving global risk, public and private sector actors  are collaborating through the TF-CIT. As a first step, it aims to improve understanding amongst policy makers of the magnitude, flows and nature of illicit trade, how it undermines legitimate economic activities, directly harms public health and safety, and contributes to environmental degradation. While gross estimates of monetary values are available for some sectors, a comprehensive and holistic effort is needed to improve the availability and quality of data, to enhance partnerships between the public and private sectors for data sharing, and to conceive new approaches to effective policy strategies. This analysis will also support efforts to tailor effective policy for anti-corruption and stem illicit financial flows.