illicit trade
{{Short description|Trade in goods or services deemed illegal}}
Illicit trade is the production or distribution of a good or service that is considered illegal by a legislature.{{Cite book|last=OECD|url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/charting-illicit-trade_9789264251847-en|title=Illicit Trade: Converging Criminal Networks|date=2016-04-18|publisher=OECD|isbn=978-92-64-25183-0|series=OECD Reviews of Risk Management Policies|language=en|doi=10.1787/9789264251847-en}} It includes trade that is strictly illegal in different jurisdictions, as well as trade that is illegal in some jurisdictions but legal in others.{{Cite book|last=Naím, Moisés.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/72687695|title=Illicit : how smugglers, traffickers, and copycats are hijacking the global economy|date=2006|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=978-1-4000-7884-4|edition=1st Anchor books |location=New York|oclc=72687695}}
Illicit trade can occur either in black markets or in legitimate markets. Some of the most important types of illicit trade include various forms of smuggling, the illegal drug trade, counterfeiting, human trafficking, the illicit tobacco trade, arms trafficking, illicit trafficking of cultural property, and various environmental crimes such as illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging and illegal fishing.
International initiatives to combat illicit trade
While there are several international treaties for dealing with specific types of illicit trade, it is said that a cross-sector approach as well as increased collaboration and communication between stakeholders are necessary to address illicit trade more efficiently.{{Cite web|last=Radisch|first=Jack|title=Illicit Trade in the 21st Century|url=https://www.brinknews.com/illicit-trade-in-the-21st-century/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=BRINK – News and Insights on Global Risk|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=State of the Illicit Economy: Briefing Papers|url=https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/state-illicit-economy-briefing-papers/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=World Economic Forum|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Illicit trade endangers the environment, the law and the SDGs. We need a global response|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/illicit-trade-sdgs-environment-global-danger/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=World Economic Forum|language=en}}
In 2013, the OECD launched a Task Force Countering on Illicit Trade,{{Cite web|title=Charting Illicit Trade: Sharing Data and Information - OECD|url=http://www.oecd.org/gov/illicit-trade/chartingillicittradesharingdataandinformation.htm|access-date=2020-08-01|website=www.oecd.org}} which focuses on developing evidence-based research and coordinating international expertise in quantifying and mapping illicit markets.{{Cite web|title=Illicit trade - OECD|url=https://www.oecd.org/gov/illicit-trade/|access-date=2020-07-01|website=OECD}}
Since 2013, The World Customs Organization produces a yearly report on illicit trade which uses seizure data and case studies to study illicit trade flows.{{Cite web|title=World Customs Organization|url=http://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2020/july/the-wco-issues-its-2019-illicit-trade-report.aspx|access-date=2020-07-31|website=www.wcoomd.org}}{{Cite web|title=First WCO Illicit Trade Report {{!}} Customs Clearance|url=https://www.customsclearance.net/en/articles/first-wco-illicit-trade-report|access-date=2020-08-01|website=www.customsclearance.net}}
In February 2020, UNCTAD held a Forum on illicit trade. One of the main focus of the event was to evaluate how illicit trade impacts negatively the Sustainable Development Goals.{{Cite web|title=UNCTAD Illicit Trade Forum|url=https://unctad.org/en/Pages/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=2281}}
According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and to Tradeslab, not only the World Trade Organization has rather limited tools to deal with illicit trade, but it may also limit the ability of states to combat it.{{Cite web|date=2014-09-30|title=The world trade system must arm itself to fight illicit trade|url=https://globalinitiative.net/the-world-trade-system-must-arm-itself-to-fight-illicit-trade/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Global Initiative|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Illicit Trade and the World Trade Organization: Raising awareness, identifying limitations and building strategies|url=https://www.tradelab.org/single-post/2018/03/02/Illicit-Trade-and-the-World-Trade-Organization-Raising-awareness-identifying-limitations-and-building-strategies|access-date=2020-07-01|website=website|date=15 June 2017|language=en}}
Measurements on illicit trade
By considering 12 different illicit markets, Global Financial Integrity estimated the value of illicit trade at $650 billion in 2011.{{Cite web|title=International Crime a $650 Billion Business Built on Poverty and Corruption in Developing World « Global Financial Integrity|url=https://gfintegrity.org/press-release/international-crime-650-billion-business-built-poverty-corruption-developing-world/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Global Financial Integrity|language=en-US}}
The UNODC estimated in 2012 that the illicit trade activities of transnational organized crime have a combined annual value of $870 billion per year.{{Cite web|title=New UNODC campaign: transnational organized crime is a US$870 billion a year business|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2012/July/new-unodc-campaign-highlights-transnational-organized-crime-as-an-us-870-billion-a-year-business.html|access-date=2020-08-01|website=United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime|language=en}}
The Economist Intelligence Unit developed in 2018 a Global Illicit Trade Index, which evaluates the structural capacities of 84 countries to fight illicit trade.{{Cite web|title=The Illicit Trade Environment Index|url=http://illicittradeindex.eiu.com/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=illicittradeindex.eiu.com}}
Debates and controversies
Several authors and organizations assert that globalization has led to a significant increase of illicit trade, and that it has become a significant global threat.{{Cite journal|last1=Wechsler|first1=William|last2=Naím|first2=Moisés|date=2006|title=Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy|journal=Foreign Affairs|language=en|volume=85|issue=3|pages=156|doi=10.2307/20031987|jstor=20031987|url=http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=1774471}}{{Cite book|title=Deviant Globalization: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|doi=10.5040/9781501300936|isbn=978-1-4411-9312-4}} However, some authors argue that illicit trade has not necessarily grown in proportion to licit trade, and that a historical perspective is missing in the current assessment of its importance.{{Citation|last=Andreas|first=Peter|title=Illicit Globalization: Myths, Misconceptions, and Historical Lessons|date=2017-07-05|work=Transnational Organized Crime|pages=575–598|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315084565-33|isbn=978-1-315-08456-5}}{{Cite book|last=Naylor|first=R. T.|title=Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy|date=2002|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|jstor=j.ctt130hb7k|isbn=978-0-7735-2417-0}}