Drop in illegal cigarettes
Research for the tobacco industry has suggested that the number of counterfeit or imported cigarettes being smoked in Bath is decreasing.
A study of discarded cigarette packets in the city has suggested that 14.8 per cent were either counterfeit or brought in from abroad – down from 26.9 per cent a year ago.
Researchers collected packets from the streets and bins of the city as part of a national monitoring project.
The industry is keen to see tough action against illegal tobacco sales, which the Government estimates costs the public purse up to £3.1 billion a year in tax revenue.
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It also says that counterfeit cigarettes are often made in unsanitary conditions which affects their content, and can be sold on street corners as part of criminal rings.
The Government is currently consulting on plans to introduce compulsory plain packaging to all cigarette packs which the industry fears will make it easier for counterfeits to be produced.
Comments
by Elsewhereman
Friday, September 28 2012, 9:51AM
“"A study of discarded cigarette packets in the city has suggested that 14.8 per cent were either counterfeit or brought in from abroad ..."
And there's the flaw in the methodology. "Or brought in from abroad". In a place that attracts foreign tourists, perfectly legally imported foreign packs will be prevalent, since most people who live in low-tax countries are aware that British tobacco is expensive. And didn't we have fewer foreign tourists in Bath this year? Ergo: fewer foreign fag packets. Added to which, there are now sophisticated packaging counterfeits around: genuine packs incorporate a microchip, but I do wonder if every packet collected in this survey was scanned?
You'll never stop the smuggling of legally produced tobacco from other countries, but the real challenges are now the counterfeiting of real brands and what the industry calls "cheap whites".
When retailers start reporting real rises in sales - in terms of physical numbers of packets sold - again, then it will show HMRC are getting a handle on smuggling and counterfeiting. Until that happens, every tax rise just pushes more smokers towards the counterfeiters and smugglers.”
by Furniturepal
Friday, September 28 2012, 9:17AM
“And what about tax free cigarettes which you can buy online from http://tinyurl.com/cobdtyb”
by joning
Thursday, September 27 2012, 4:31PM
“So wait, it's actually dropped as opposed to on the increase as was claimed so to push through the non-dipslay regulation?”
by suffolkpunch
Thursday, September 27 2012, 2:16PM
“While the duty on tobacco products is so high people will always go to Europe to buy their tobacco or look for sellers of smuggled or counterfeit tobacco.”