It is an illicit global trade in the hundreds of billions of dollars that affects the health of millions.

It's not heroin or cocaine, but tobacco smuggling. Countries have tried to combat it for years. Now negotiators for 150 countries are working to forge a global agreement that should give some muscle to those efforts. And it will mean having tobacco companies shoulder more of the burden.

Under proposals for an international agreement being considered, cigarette makers would be required to disclose the identities of the providers of the raw materials like tobacco and paper. The companies would also have to identify which wholesalers are buying their products. Companies that refuse to reveal the information could be barred from making or selling cigarettes.

These measures, advocates say, will allow government investigators to penetrate the delivery chain, which is said to be dominated by organized crime in some countries.

"When the government seizes smuggled Marlboro cigarettes, in many countries, customs officials send the cigarettes to Philip Morris International to verify that the cigarettes are counterfeit," said Kathryn Mulvey, international policy director of antitobacco campaigner, Corporate Accountability International.

"This is like a police officer calling a known drug dealer to ask if the shipment of cocaine waiting in the dock belongs to him. If the cigarettes are authentic, the tobacco giant could be in big trouble, so there are strong incentives for the corporation to determine they are counterfeit," she said from Geneva, where she was monitoring the negotiations.

Among the steps being weighed in Geneva is requiring cigarette makers to track their cigarettes—from creation to consumption—with packs and cartons carrying bar codes or holographic stamps. Another proposal is to step up the prosecution of smuggling and to increase the penalties.

If negotiators can hammer out an agreement, a new global pact would follow on the 2005 World Health Organization treaty against tobacco use that bans sales to minors as well as tobacco advertising and sponsorships. Countries that signed the treaty are participating in rounds of negotiations, the most recent of which concluded last weekend, to work out what is called a protocol to the 2005 treaty.