Definitions of different terms used to describe the illegal tobacco trade and duty-free sales
| Terminology | Usage | Definition |
| Illicit trade | General term encompassing all illegal forms of tobacco | Illicit trade is defined in Article 1 of the WHO’s framework convention on tobacco control as ‘any practice or conduct prohibited by law and which relates to production, shipment, receipt, possession, distribution, sale or purchase including any practice or conduct intended to facilitate such activity’.43 Includes smuggled genuine tobacco (tobacco industry illicit), counterfeit tobacco and ‘Cheap/illicit Whites’. |
| Non-domestic product (known in the UK as non-UK duty paid) | General term encompassing illegal and legal tobacco | Tobacco on which local (eg, UK) duties have not been paid, either illegally or legally in compliance with regulations concerning transport of tobacco products between jurisdictions. The latter includes cross-border sales (which in turn include duty free – see below). |
| Smuggled | General term for non-domestic illegal tobacco | Tobacco which has been brought into the country illegally without paying local duties. Can include counterfeit, illicit whites and tobacco-industry illicit tobacco. Does not include legal cross-border or duty-free sales. |
| Contraband | General term but is sometimes used as a specific term. | General: comprises tobacco sold in violation of applicable duty (includes counterfeit and tobacco-industry illicit tobacco). Specific: genuine tobacco produced by licenced manufacturers but local duties have not been paid (tobacco-industry illicit tobacco). |
| Tobacco-industry illicit | Specific term | Genuine tobacco produced by licenced manufacturers but local duties have not been paid. |
| Cheap whites/illicit whites | Specific term | Illicit whites are cigarettes manufactured for the sole purpose of being smuggled into and sold illegally in another market. They usually do not pay tax in the country where they are made.44 |
| Cross-border sales/shopping | Specific term | Legal importation of goods for personal use. Includes duty-free cigarettes/tobacco and those, in the case of the UK, with duties paid outside the UK, eg, in other EU countries. |
| Counterfeit | Specific term | Products bearing a trademark of a tobacco manufacturer which are manufactured by a third party without the consent of the manufacturer.45 |