As of 1 March 2019 all tobacco manufacturers and sellers are required to register with the national system “Chestny Znak” in order to ensure their products bear compulsory identification marks.
As of 1 July 2019, it is prohibited to manufacture any tobacco products that have not been marked with an identification mark. All tobacco manufacturers are required to place a unique code (in Data Matrix format) on each pack of cigarettes.
Any supply of marked cigarettes from a manufacturer to a distributor is to be accompanied by electronic universal transfer documents (UPD) that must indicate product codes with the use of electronic document management systems.
When cigarettes are sold at a checkout to and end user it is required to scan the DataMatrix code from each pack or each box of cigarettes. When the sale is completed the cashier device is transmitting to the Fiscal Data Operator (OFD) the notification that a product has been sold that is subject to compulsory identification labelling.
As of 1 July 2020 any circulation (including sale) of tobacco products without mandatory identification marks is prohibited.
Any supply of cigarettes with identification marks to a retail outlet and sub-distributor is to be accompanied by electronic universal transfer documents (UPD) that must indicate product codes with the use electronic document management systems.
Starting from 1 October 2019, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of tobacco products will have to use standard contract forms for:
- Obtaining an emission registration device for the identification marks for tobacco products, including a remote access to such a device;
- Connection to the state information system of monitoring of circulation of products subject to mandatory identification marking; and
- Contracting the services of generating identification marking codes.
In 2018, an experiment was conducted where tobacco market participants were able to voluntary participate. The aim of the experiment was to test the available systems of tobacco product marking and registration.