The Duty Free World Council (DFWC) has marked 10 years since the industry’s trade associations came together to form the united global voice. 

At its Annual General Meeting, held on 3 October in Cannes, members from APTRA, ASUTIL, ETRC, FDFA, IAADFS, MEADFA and brand association TFWA felt “a source of pride”.

Key objectives for the Council include providing a global source and collective voice for the industry, and highlighting the role that duty and tax free shopping plays in the broader travel ecosystem.

In addition, DFWC is developing standards through educational activities. It also works, alongside other entities, to gain support from regulators. 

It also publishes economic impact studies to highlight the importance of the industry. Reports have been published for Europe, Asia Pacific and The Americas. 

A current focus is the Trusted, Transparent, Secure campaign, launched with TFWA in 2022.

The initiative promotes travel retail as a safe place to purchase luxury goods, with retailers committing to anti-counterfeiting policies. 

A position setting out the impact that illicit trade has on the industry was published in October 2022. 

In July 2023, a declaration with a clear anti-illicit trade statement was launched. It demonstrates the commitments of counter-signatories as a collective approach to stop counterfeiting. 

It also positions travel retail and duty free as one of the safest, most secure and trusted retail channels in the world.

Initial signatories include eight of the industry’s largest retailers: ARI, DFS, Dubai Duty Free, Dufry, Duty Free Americas, Gebr. Heinemann, Lagardère Travel Retail and Qatar Duty Free. 

Others are behind encouraged to adopt the declaration. 

Earlier this year, two industry executives won DFWC Academy complimentary course enrolments into the Certificate in Duty Free and Travel Retail.

It’s also worked to weigh in on a number of industry issues. One such move was to welcome clarity from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding reinforced messaging around the continued use of Security tamper-evident bags (STEBs) at airport security.