Main cigarette producers claim smuggled cigarettes make Romanian state lose 1 bln Euros/year

Nearly four out of 10 cigarette packs are smuggled, bringing significant losses for this sector: one billion Euros per year according to a Novel research study requested by the main cigarette producers from Romania.

„An urgent and firm interventions from the state authorities is necessary to counteract state budget loses, estimated for the due year to over one billion Euros”, Corporate & Regulatory Affairs, British American Tobacco South-East Europe manager Adrian Popa opinionated.

Corporate Affairs & Communications, Japan Tobacco International Romania manager Gilda Lazar suggests in her turn that the legal notion of „smuggling” should be better defined.

„We express our concern regarding the grand scale of the phenomenon and we find together with the authorities the best ways to fight against it, while the legal framework for smuggling is being clarified. Smuggling should be defined in relation to the national border territory, not only to the area, and, at the same time, by setting a calendar on medium and long term for tax increase, so that in the future such crisis situations are avoided”, Gilda Lazar explained.

According to the Novel Research study, the biggest level of the phenomenon is recorded in North and West, where cigarette smuggling has grown to represent half of the total cigarette sales.

The tobacco industry is one of the biggest contributors to the state budget – last year, three companies contributed the general consolidated state budget with over two billion Euros VAT and duty money.