Policy questions related to

product tracking

Justin Picard

3 rounds in the digital

«revolution»

• Round 1 (1990’s): Counterfeiters take the lead

• Round 2(2000’s): The security printers strike back

• Round 3 (2010-) : Everyone has a role to play

Two definitions

• Authentication: process of verifying a claim of identity

(i.e. discern genuine from counterfeit)

• track and trace: process of determining the current and

past locations of a unique item

« I am Product ABC from lot DEF

with unique ID XYZ »

Who are you ?

Can you prove it ?

Where do you come From ?

Track & Trace

1) Marking product with

unique ID

4) Checking product traceability information

2) Product registration 3) Supply chain reading

123 XYZ 456 BCD

Authentification

Can T&T be used to

authenticate ?

ISO 12931 : Performance criteria for authentication

«Track and Trace technology when used alone is not

considered to be an authentication solution. »

T&T vendors respectively

disagree..

• « […] is the new global standard for digital

authentication »

• « If a product does not match its description or intended

destination, the customer receives instant notification

that the product cannot be authenticated »

• « consumers can authenticate by checking the validity

of code by phone, by SMS, email, or through a

dedicated internet platform »

• « The Authenticator spots cloned codes thanks to the

proprietary anti-fraud methodology »

• « Impossible for counterfeiters to generate valid

codes. »

• « The authentication result can be obtained instantly »

How can T&T offer security

against counterfeiting?

• Since codes have no protection against copy..

• Simple traceability :

A counterfeiter is likely to use a code many

times

A code verified more than once might be a

counterfeit

• Full T&T :

Each location of product is recorded in

database

Counterfeits will have inconsistencies in their

history

Open questions on reliability

• Low verification rate (1-5%)

• False alarms clog the system

• A consumer receives a confirmation that the product is

genuine while it is not

• Product tracking is not done consistently

• Counterfeiters adapt : they acquire and copy

thousands of different valid codes

In summary

• Track and trace is a valuable tool for monitoring illicit

trade in supply chains, but it does not provide reliable

authentication

• IDs can still be stolen or compromised.

• But many authentication method are not much more

secure..

Mobile Phone Hybrid approaches

Methodology

Hypothesis: Companies themselves best places to (gu)estimate

impact of illicit trade on their own activities

-Questionnaire

- Interviews

-Anonymise (in order to reduce reluctance to share info)

Collecting data with mobile

phone

• For each scan: UID/ geolocation /device ID

• Immediate feedback on problems

Policy questions : citizens

• Should consumers have the right to authenticate ? To be

informed ?

• Can they deal with an imperfect system ?

• Should their data be accessible by 3rd parties ?

• Can authentication be mixed with other uses ?

Public Private Partnership

questions

• How can responsibilities be shared ?

Top-down or bottom-up

System design and ownership

Standards

Transparency of system

Rules for communication

Data ownership and access

Cost management