More than £1.4m in fines have been issued to retailers and individuals involved in the sale of illegal tobacco, following a strengthened partnership between National Trading Standards (NTS), Scottish Trading Standards Services (TSS) and HMRC.
The £1m milestone was reached in late November 2025, rising to £1.4m this month, according to NTS.
In July 2023, local Trading Standards officers were given “tougher enforcement sanctions” to refer cases directly to the HMRC. The change permits HMRC to investigate breaches and impose civil penalties of up to £10,000 per offence.
The referral process has resulted in “unprecedented” sanctions, with penalties escalating for repeat and persistent offenders, said NTS.
Retailers caught selling illicit tobacco also risk removal from the Tobacco Track and Trace system, a legal requirement for participation in the legitimate UK tobacco market.
The enforcement approach is part of Operation CeCe, a joint UK-wide initiative between HMRC and Trading Standards to target the illicit tobacco trade.
Since it began in January 2021, the operation has removed more than 74 million illicit cigarettes, 19,750kg of hand rolling tobacco and around 175kg of shisha products from sale.
Lord Bichard, chair of NTS, said: “Illegal tobacco harms communities, undermines legitimate retailers and fuels wider criminal activity. The vast majority of retailers play by the rules. These sanctions demonstrate that we are taking decisive action against those who don’t.”
Alexandra Connell, chair of the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland, said: “We know full well of the detrimental impact this illicit trade has on legitimate businesses, and the amounts of money this raises for organised crime.
“Since the inception of the sanctions regime, our colleagues in local authority teams have submitted almost 250 referrals to HMRC to consider. We will continue to do so as we appreciate that this is an effective and efficient means of denying organised criminals any profits gained through their abuse of the tax system.”
Rachel Nixon, director at HMRC, said: “These tougher enforcement sanctions strengthen HMRC’s ability to hit illicit tobacco sellers’ pockets with penalties of up to £10,000, which harms the wider criminal supply chain.
“Successful collaboration with Trading Standards continues to tackle the sale of illicit tobacco, which is estimated to cost the UK around £1.8bn each year in lost tax revenue, undercutting retail businesses and funding crime across our communities.”
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