“Break the chain! Cigarette smuggling is illegal” is a public campaign that was launched today at the Customs Bureau in Piatra Neamț, with the aim to raise awareness of the negative effects of the illegal trade of tobacco products.
Created by Euromonitor BCS in partnership with The Romanian Border Police, The Romanian Police and the General Customs National Authority within the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, this campaign runs via www.faracontrabanda.ro, sponsored by JTI (Japan Tobacco International). This campaign covers 10 counties that border the North-East, the North, West, the South-West of Romania and Bucharest, running between March-June 2016. The message, which will reach the public through the media, TV ads and outdoor advertising, is aiming to educate smokers on the benefits of refusing to buy cigarettes that have been made available through illegal trading, hence putting an end in the continuity of a corrupt system. This way, buyers can break the ‘smuggling chain’!
According to Marian Marcu, Managing Director of Novel Research, ‘In January 2016, the North-East continues to be the most affected area in terms of illegal cigarette trading, with a black market rate of 36,8%, although it is 10% lower than back in November 2015. The North-West and Western regions also show important shares of this market, while they also prove to be declining (28,3%, 26,7% respectively)’.
‘We’re launching a new public campaign in border regions because these areas have always been the most vulnerable to smuggling. The ‘Break the chain’ message aims to remind people that a mechanism cannot function without the wheels that power it, and the buyer is one of these wheels. Each one of us has the power to stop the illegal trade of cigarettes if they refuse to purchase smuggled products. We can break the chain! This way, the society at large will benefit from this because a smuggling network is an organised crime and less money from the national budget. The neighbouring countries that are not EU members and where different taxation systems are applied, the price of a pack of cigarettes can is 5-6 times lower than in Romania. Therefore, smugglers make a huge profit, and the losses for our community are just as great’, said Cristina Vasiloiu, General Manager of Euromonitor Business Consulting Services.
‘The fact that according to a Study by Novel Research, the level of cigarette smuggling rates have shown a slight increase, means the efforts to fight this issue need to be strengthened. Cigarette smuggling is currently the main fraud trend at the North and North-East international borders. In the first two months of this year, over 700,000 cigarettes have been confiscated, most important ones captures having been recorded the borders with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova (e.g. 230,000 cigarettes at the Siret Customs Bureau, 150,000 at Halmeu, 10,000 at BV Albița, etc.). Apart from intensifying operational activities, it is necessary to run public campaigns across border counties, together with tobacco producers, in order to raise awareness of the negative impacts of smuggling. Moreover, we are pursuing the professional trainings and up-skilling of the canine troops, that are specially qualified to track cigarettes and cash’ said Claudiu Ardeleanu, General Manager of the General Customs National Authority, after the launch of the latest Novel study.
‘The Romanian Border Police acts as an integrated system together with the other structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as other national institutions that run their activity in the financial arena with the aim to fight smuggling, counterfeit and the illegal trade with tobacco products. The activity of the Border Police does not only cover the capture but it also brins qualified research and analysis of each logged case throughout the complete destruction of tobacco smuggling networks’, said Valeriu Bodogă, Chief Commissioner at the Illegal Migration and Cross-Border Infraction Control Service at the Iași Border Police Territorial Inspectorate.
‘The share of illegal products reaches 90% in many towns and villages in Suceava and Botoșani. One pack of cigarette that would normally cost 2,8 lei in Ukraine, is sold for 8 lei on this side of the border. Such public campaigns have visible effects and significantly decrease black market activity, but only on a case-by-case basis in the regions where such activity is common. Hence why we need a National Strategy that combats the illegal cigarette trading, which will bring clear actions for the years to come. This Strategy has been publicly demanded several times, by the legal authorities and the Competition which even requested the establishment of a Work Group, back in 2014 at the end of the market investigations, a Group that would involve key financial policy decision makers, legal regulation authorities, as well as the relevant industry institutions. National smuggling was at a 17,8% rate in January, which translated into 600 million Euro budget losses. Clear and realistic policies are therefore imperative in the tobacco industry which, just as a reminder, is the second biggest contributor to the national budget, with an almost 3 billion euros turnover in 2015, which covered VAT, taxes and other contributions’, said Gilda Lazăr, Corporate Affairs & Communications Director, JTI Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria.
The „Break the chain! Cigarette Smuggling is illegal!” campaign had the support of the TVR national television channel and Amos News and saw an important reach of outdoor displays in Botoșani, Iași, Neamț, Suceava, Maramureș, Timiș, Caraș-Severin, Mehedinți, Dolj, Olt and Bucharest. The most important information and relevant communication can be found on www.faracontrabanda.ro. ‘Break the chain! Cigarette Smuggling is illegal!” is the fifth regional public campaign that was initiated by Euromonitor Business Consulting Services. The previous campaigns have also seen a significant decrease in the illegal cigarette trading throughout their activity and in the key areas where they had been launched.