A round table "Regional tobacco market" was held at the site of the interregional forum "Days of Retail in Siberia. Effective anti-counterfeiting tools."
Its participants — key market players, representatives of public organizations, federal and regional authorities — discussed the topics of legal business and budget losses from the growth of illegal tobacco products in the Siberian Federal District. They agreed that the issue of combating counterfeit products is relevant today from various sides — from social, economic, and budgetary. This phenomenon continues to cause significant harm to both citizens and the economy as a whole. Over the past ten years, the share of illegal tobacco and nicotine-containing products in the country has increased from 1% to 12-13%. However, there is currently a downward trend in this indicator.
According to Roman Troshkin, JTI Russia's Government Relations Manager, effective harmonization of excise tax rates can eliminate the main economic prerequisites for tobacco product flows between the EAEU countries. This requires a systematic reduction in the ranges of deviation of the actual rates established in the countries of the Union from the indicative rate stipulated by the Harmonization Agreement. The expert said that Internet resources that sell tobacco and nicotine-containing products in circumvention of the law are still one of the main channels for the distribution of illegal tobacco products. "Today, a court decision is required to block them, which sometimes takes up to six months to make," Troshkin explained. — And here it is important to implement the mechanisms of extrajudicial blocking, as it is established for alcohol. In addition, it is important that the work of control, supervisory and law enforcement agencies in each individual region of Russia be activated as much as possible. All this will make it possible to achieve more effective results in combating illegal tobacco trafficking."
Sergey Ryabukhin, First Deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets, said that the Russian budget receives about 800 billion rubles in tobacco excise taxes. "If we look at statistics, we lose 100 billion rubles every year from 12.5% of counterfeit products," said the deputy chairman. "This is unacceptable in the current reality, especially now, in special conditions, when every ruble, every financial receipt becomes a source of basic income for the consolidated budget."
According to Andrey Meshkov, Deputy Director of the Department of Digital Labeling of Goods and Product Turnover Legalization at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the process of forming an international industry working group together with the Republic of Belarus is coming to an end today. Within the framework of this initiative, it is planned to discuss issues related to the proliferation of counterfeit products, as well as develop measures to combat negative trends in this area.
Dmitry Sharkov, Corporate Affairs Manager for the East region of Philip Morris International affiliated companies in Russia, stressed that the federal budget annually loses at least 120 billion rubles in lost taxes and excise taxes. We have all the necessary legislative framework to combat illegal trafficking, but the main thing is to make sure that all measures work in practice. To do this, according to Sharkov, it is necessary to increase the effectiveness of their enforcement, actively check retail outlets, in particular, using the Honest Sign application, and also prevent the sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products to minors.
Irina Fedina, Deputy Director of the Food Industry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, said that the development of technical regulations for nicotine-containing products within the EAEU is currently underway. "We are waiting for the developed project, which has already been agreed upon within the framework of a specially created interstate working group," she explained. She added that minimum prices for tobacco products containing nicotine will be indexed on January 1, 2025. Starting from the new year, the uniform minimum price for tobacco products will rise to 135 rubles. The cost of nicotine-containing products with heated tobacco on a stick will increase by 4.5%, to 22 rubles. In addition, prices for vaping liquids will be indexed by 5%.
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