The share of illegal turnover of tobacco products in Russia is almost 14%. Such data for the second quarter of 2023 was provided by Sergey Glushkov, Director of Corporate Relations and Communications at JTI Russia.
"The latest figures, which were provided by the NSCC according to the results of the inspection of the second quarter of this year, are 13.9% of all cigarettes are illegal," he said at the international forum "Anti-counterfeit".
For comparison, in 2022, the share of illicit tobacco trafficking in Russia was 12.1%.
According to a study by the National Research Center of Competencies in the Field of Combating Illicit Trafficking in Industrial products, approximately 1.4 billion packs are illegal.
Every year, only from non-payment of excise tax, VAT on cigarettes alone amounts to more than 130 billion rubles.
According to Elena Yagodkina, Deputy head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, during the international forum "Anti-Counterfeit", more than 50% of violations detected during customs control fall on tobacco products.
Since 2019, tobacco is subject to mandatory labeling in the "Honest Sign" system. After its introduction, 26 illegal tobacco industries were closed, another 18 entered the legal field. In addition to tobacco, the labeling applies to dairy products, mineral and drinking water, beer and low-alcohol beverages, medicines, shoes, light industry goods, fur coats, perfumes, tires and cameras.
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