The European Union and Member States lose billions in unpaid taxes every year from counterfeit and smuggled goods.

On 25^th of April senior-level tax policy, tax administration and customs officials as well as academics, experts from Eastern European and other countries gather in Vilnius for a two-day conference to address a range of issues involving the shadow economy. The conference aims to focus on the nature, extent and implications of the shadow economy and illicit trade for the region and to expand thinking on how to reduce the illicit activities.

The conference is jointly organized by the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) and the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI).

The speakers include: Freidrich Schneider (Johannes Kepler Universitat, Austria), Elizabeth Allen (ITIC), Prof. Louise Shelley (George Mason University), Carlo van Heuckelom (Europol), Simone Di Meo (Interpol), Vytautas Žukauskas (LFMI), Katarzyna Banaszek (World Customs Organization) and others.

ITIC, a nonprofit research and education foundation, has worked on tax policy and administration issues throughout Eurasia since its founding in 1993. LFMI is a private non-profit, non-partisan organization established in 1990 to promote the ideas of individual freedom and responsibility, free market, and limited government.