According to Kommersant, the government is actively discussing tobacco trade reform. By March 3, officials were instructed to compare two models of whitewashing the market — licensing or the introduction of a register of permits. Both models involve tougher liability for the sale of counterfeit goods, but instead of fines, economic incentives should be earned: in case of violations, sellers will be forced to leave the market. Control of turnover will go to Rosalokoltabakcontrol or the regions. According to experts, the budget annually loses more than 100 billion rubles due to the illegal tobacco trade.
Kommersant has learned the details of a government discussion on regulating the trade in tobacco products. Last week, under the leadership of the head of the government staff, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, a meeting was held at the White House on tightening control over tobacco, vapes and cigarettes.
Mandatory labeling of products has already been introduced in the industry, according to the state information system for labeling goods (GIS MT), more than 300 thousand companies participate in it, but the fight against counterfeiting is ineffective: fines for the sale of unmarked products do not cover the profits from its sale and do not stimulate legal trade, follows from the information from the government office to the meeting.
A Kommersant source familiar with its progress says that by March 3, interested departments, including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, should submit a new concept for market regulation.
Two similar options are being discussed — licensing sellers by analogy with the alcohol market and introducing a register of permits for them.
From March 1, 2024, the production, export and import of tobacco products are already subject to licensing, but this does not apply to trade. Sellers will be able to obtain licenses on the portal of public services, and the register of tobacco sellers can be created on the basis of the "alcoholic" EGAIS.
According to Kommersant, among the requirements of the Ministry of Finance and Rosalokoltakcontrol for admission to trade are the seller's registration in GIS MT, the absence of tax debts, the presence of warehouses (for wholesale) and retail facilities (for retail) in ownership, economic management or lease for a period of one year. Sellers will have to pay the state duty: in retail — 10 thousand rubles, in wholesale — 500 thousand rubles, hookah — 65 thousand rubles. Organizations with a license for the retail sale of alcohol will be entered into the "tobacco" register automatically, and the information exchange of departments about market participants will be the same. According to Kommersant's interlocutor, at the meeting, officials were inclined to repeat the experience of the alcohol market, where the registry licensing model operates.
Tougher penalties for violations were also discussed. Currently, their model is ineffective: the increase in fines is offset by an increase in product prices, and officials see economic tools such as revocation of licenses or exclusion of retail facilities from the register, suggesting a ban on tobacco sales.
The reason for the sanction will be the sale of counterfeit goods, the re-sale of tobacco products to minors, exclusion from the registers of legal entities and sole proprietors, or the trade organization's own initiative.
According to the meeting participants, stricter regulation will help curb illegal activities, increase budget revenues and give customers confidence in the legal operation of retail outlets. Rosalokoltabakcontrol or the regions can gain control over the tobacco trade by analogy with the alcohol market, but it is also possible to divide powers (the service will get control of wholesale trade, the regions will get control of retail).
The government is confident that the proposed measures will become a problem for illegal trade and will practically not affect the legal one. JTI Russia supports the government's efforts to combat illegal tobacco products. According to the company's estimates, unscrupulous participants deprive the budget of more than 100 billion rubles annually. "The activities of JTI Russia, as well as other market participants, can be traced through GIS MT. Based on it, the government is building a risk-based control system in both wholesale and retail sectors," the company notes.
According to the deputy head of the CRPT (operator of the Honest Sign system) Revaza Yusupova, labeling has reduced the level of illegal trafficking in the tobacco market from 15.6% to 10.8%, although it doubled every year before labeling began. Since the beginning of cigarette labeling, 56 illegal factories have been closed, 18 have been legalized, and the budget, thanks to the whitewashing of the industry, has received an additional 450 billion rubles.
A Kommersant source on the FMCG market notes that Rospotrebnadzor, based on GIS MT, is still identifying thousands of outlets selling products without mandatory connection to the labeling system, which blocks the retail sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products for a dozen reasons.
"To curb the trafficking of illegal products, more serious penalties should be applied, including the closure of outlets, and this does not require licensing, which only burdens a bona fide business with an additional administrative burden," he believes.
Another interlocutor of Kommersant in the tobacco industry notes that GIS MT itself is a registry and "nothing new needs to be created, it will be excessive regulation and additional burden on business." And in order to reduce the number of violations, he said, it is necessary to introduce a mechanism for automatic fines in the system, which Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko spoke about as a priority last week.
Vladlen Maksimov, Vice President of Opora Russia and president of the Small Format Trade Association, agrees: if you do not fight counterfeiting directly, registries will not help. In his opinion, it is necessary to "cover" the points of sale and Rospotrebnadzor should be more actively involved in this. "The police are working, but often the volume is insufficient for a criminal case: tobacco is a compact product, you can bring it in small quantities every day," he adds.
Maxim Korolev, editor-in-chief of the Russian Tobacco industry news agency, also doubts that the registry model will help in the fight against counterfeiting: the measure will successfully cover legal retail, but counterfeit products are not distributed there. "First of all, these are the Internet and Telegram channels, offline, when the seller sells only to his customers, so the smaller the settlement, the higher the proportion of counterfeit goods," he notes.
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