The experience of some countries has shown that the system offered by SICPA is very expensive but of no benefit at all. The World Health Organization has warned about this as well.
Nevertheless, Lithuania is moving toward an agreement with the Swiss company, although there is no public information about any official invitations, tenders or public procurement procedures.
Evelina Butkutė-Lazdauskienė, the prime minister's spokeswoman, said that no decisions had been made yet.
"There is no decision yet to introduce the goods tracking system in Lithuania, because such a system must be the same throughout the EU," she said.
According to Lietuvos Rytas, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius first spoke about such a tracking system in public after a meeting with Algirdas Šemeta. The Lithuanian EU commissioner believes that such a system should be introduced all over Europe and has even calculated that once introduced, it would help reduce smuggling by up to 30 percent within five years.
