Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law purporting to eliminate counterfeit tobacco products with unaccounted-for labeling. The document has been published.
Thus, it is planned to curb illicit tobacco trafficking. According to the authors of the document, the total number of issued labeling codes for product residues exceeds the annual volume of the tobacco market.
Thus, the law prohibits the turnover, including retail sale, of tobacco products that were in circulation without labeling as of June 30, 2020, if they were labeled before December 1, 2020. It is also proposed to ban such products if they were unlabeled as of June 30, 2021 and labeled on July 1, 2021; if they were unlabeled as of March 1, 2022 and labeled before October 1, 2023; if they were unlabeled as of December 15, 2022 and labeled before December 1, 2023.
The decision to ban the turnover of tobacco and nicotine-containing products or raw materials for their production in the event of a control (supervisory) event, which revealed violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation, or in the case of a report on the impossibility of conducting a control (supervisory) event, is carried out by the federal control and supervision body in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The law will enter into force on March 1, 2025, with the exception of provisions for which other deadlines have been set for their entry into force.
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