Codentify, the track-and-trace coding system developed by Philip Morris International (PMI) and used by major tobacco companies, has been sold to a Swiss company, according to EUobserver.

The system to combat illicit trade was sold last month to Inexto, a subsidiary founded one year ago by the French investment group Impala, the Belgium-based online newspaper said. Inexto is registered in Lausanne, near PMI operational headquarters.
Critics told EUobserver the sale appeared to be a ploy by the tobacco industry to make Codentify acceptable to world regulatory bodies as an independent coding system.