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TASS
The net can be a curator for the cigarette market.
As it became known “Kommersant”, the Vice-Premier Alexander Khloponin has proposed to create a single regulator for control over the turnover of alcohol and tobacco. According to his plan, it will allow to unite the fight against illegal products on both markets with USAIS. The idea is already supported by President Vladimir Putin. Most likely, the new Supervisory authority will be established on the basis of the Net, headed by Igor Chuyan.
That Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin appealed to President Vladimir Putin with a letter in which he proposed the creation of a single regulator for alcoholic and tobacco products, “Kommersant” was told by several industry sources and confirmed two Federal officials. According to one of the interlocutors, it is about creating an Agency that would combine the functions of control to combat counterfeit and contraband products in both markets. This, in turn, involves extending the system of USAIS on the turnover of tobacco products. A Kommersant source who saw the letter, says that it is already the approving resolution of the President.
Press Secretary Alexander Khloponin Natalia Platonova said it does not comment on the correspondence of his head with the President. However, she noted that the issue of improving the control over the circulation of tobacco market worked out by the government on behalf of the President. “Solutions will be reported to him to the end of March,”— added Ms. Platonov. Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov on Thursday had no comment. Refused to give and in a press-service of the Ministry of Finance.
Kommersant’s sources claim that the new regulator can be established on the basis of rosalkogolregulirovaniya (PAP), headed since inception by Igor Cannom and are from January 2016 subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. In January, in a letter to the Federation Council RAHR reported that in 2016 revenues of excise duties on strong alcoholic beverages increased by 28.4% to 164,8 billion rubles According to Rahr, in large part, this growth was due to the expulsion from the legal retail of counterfeit goods, which was made possible thanks primarily to the introduction of yegais. A year earlier, in Rare estimated the share of illegal products in the beverage market of 20%, but the participants talked about 40-60%. In a Rare Thursday declined to comment.
The Ombudsman for protection of entrepreneurs ‘ rights in the sphere of regulation of excisable goods Victor Zvagelsky know on behalf of the government RRU to develop a draft government resolution on the transfer of authority for regulation of the tobacco industry to the alcohol Department. “The amount of excise taxes from the production of cigarettes in six or seven times higher than from the production of alcohol, therefore the decision looks strange,” says Mr zvagel’skii. He noted that the Russian have not solved the problem with the illegal trafficking of alcohol: “His efficiency in the tobacco industry raises doubts, especially because of problems with gray market cigarettes recently compounded”.
Deputy Director of Imperial Tobacco Andrei Rogov says that the company saw no papers about the creation of a single regulator and connecting manufacturers of cigarettes to USAIS. “But such conversations go,” he acknowledges. The fight against illegal tobacco market in October 2016 was raised at a meeting with Mr Khloponin. Then discussed a proposal to extend USAIS on the production and retail sale of cigarettes. Later, says Mr Rogov, the industry sent a letter to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in which he said that he believes the regulation is excessive, as the share of counterfeit and smuggling on the market by just 2%. Possible costs that may fall on the business in case of a positive decision, Imperial Tobacco has not yet calculated.
In JTI believes that the introduction of yegais for a small number of legal tobacco manufacturers will not remove the root cause of the presence of illegal production, which is associated with its flow from Belarus and other countries of the EurAsEC. The press service of Philip Morris International (PMI), in turn, draw attention to the fact that the unified state automated information system, which was developed for the administration of the alcohol market, “does not take into account the production of cigarettes in terms of speed of operation of the equipment, as well as existing private systems manufacturers in the tobacco industry.” In both companies expressed willingness to cooperate with authorities in finding the best technical solutions for control over the circulation of tobacco products, which would take into account the tasks of the state and not create additional financial burden on the industry and the consumer.
Not support the propagation of EGAIS for tobacco products and the Finance Ministry, sources say “b” among Federal officials. According to one of them, the Ministry does not consider USAIS suitable tool to monitor trafficking of cigarettes, so do not rule out that these goals can be proposed other mechanisms, including those designed specifically for the tobacco industry.