New details of the Ministry of Finance's concept on how to regulate the tobacco industry have emerged. One of the criteria may be the size of the store — tobacco retailers are proposed to be required to rent premises of at least 50 square meters in cities and 25 in rural areas. Market participants believe that this could kill small businesses, as they say stores do not need such an area.
Shopper's writes about possible requirements for the minimum area of a tobacco store with reference to the Ministry of Finance's concept document. Its authenticity was confirmed by the participants of the discussion. Such an idea was also discussed at a meeting of Opora Russia and the Union of Nicotine-containing Enterprises. And, as noted by Vladimir Mishelovin, a member of the board of the union, business opposes:
"This will have very far-reaching, I would say, not economic, but social consequences. When a huge number of people, entrepreneurs, that is, they lose their jobs, the shops at home will close. That is, at least we can talk about 100,000 stores."
The average size of a tobacco store in the country is about 7-10 square meters, and it seriously falls short of the one that the ministries are currently discussing. And, according to Anton Voronov, a member of the federal presidium of the Small Format Trade Association, an expert in the tobacco industry, these requirements, instead of legalizing the industry, on the contrary, will lead it into the shadows.
Anton Voronov, member of the Federal Presidium of the Small Format Trade Association, tobacco industry expert: "The point, first of all, is probably that this is some kind of mirror story regarding what was done with alcohol at the time. Back then, too, when there was a wave of counterfeiting, alcohol was removed from small shops. It seems that at one time, 10-15 years ago, this measure proved its effectiveness. And now the tobacco industry has also been transferred to the Federal Alcohol Regulation Agency. They are apparently trying, as it seems to me, to mirror tobacco regulation too. But in fact, this is a completely wrong approach, because, okay, alcohol has flowed into specialty alcohol stores, which are easier to control, which have licenses, and everything seems to be transparent. But here, on the contrary, specialized tobacco retail will die, and tobacco — a holy place is never empty — will flow into non-specialized stores, that is, some grocery stores, where there is something to fill 50 square meters. And whether this will make the market more transparent, I think, of course not."
As experts noted in a conversation with Business FM earlier, tobacco labeling did not have the desired effect. And there is a large percentage of counterfeit goods on the market. In particular, this applies to vapes, on the sale of which the tobacco store now earns even more than on cigarettes, says Anton Chemena, an entrepreneur and owner of a tobacco business. Therefore, someone may even benefit from the expansion of the area.
Anton Chemena, entrepreneur, owner of a tobacco business: "The tobacco lobby, what they want to do is they want to make huge stores that do not have 100% of their profits from tobacco, but as minimarkets, or something, and then I think that the store owner himself will not accept the risks of trafficking contraband, left-wing products. And now there are a lot of contraband cigarettes, such as in St. Petersburg, and they are sold not because people want to sell contraband, but because 20-30% of the profits come from them. To pay the same rent for this point, this money must be earned somewhere. I am in favor, if this is carried out, if the stalls are removed, that Rospotrebnadzor will not run and measure 100 meters to a school institution, but really fight against it. No one is fighting it now."
Earlier it was reported that the departments have two options on how to regulate the tobacco industry — to introduce licensing of sellers or to create a registry, which can be accessed just if the store area meets all the criteria. And also if there is registration in the Honest Sign system, but there are no tax debts. As Kommersant wrote, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy plan to present the reforms on March 3.
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