HMRC intend to award a concession contract to a single supplier to act as the United Kingdom's ID Issuer for the tobacco traceability system set out in Article 15 of EU Directive 2014/40/EU and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products.

Article 15 of the EU Directive 2014/40/EU ('Tobacco Directive') and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products ('implementing regulation') require member states to appoint an ID Issuer. The ID Issuer's main responsibilities are:

1) to issue unique identifiers to tobacco manufacturers and importers for every packet of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, for which the ID Issuer may charge a fee, and

2) to issue unique identifiers to all economic operators in the supply chain for which no fee may be charged. HMRC intend to appoint a single supplier as the ID Issuer by means of a concession contract. The procurement will comply with the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016. The service must be in place and operational by 20.5.2019, as mandated by the Tobacco Directive. Attention is drawn to the independence requirements in Article 35 of the implementing regulation.