Hungary’s NAV To Crack Down On Illegal Tobacco

  • 18 Nov 2014 8:00 AM
Hungary’s NAV To Crack Down On Illegal Tobacco
The tax authority NAV announced a campaign against the illegal trade in cigarettes in co-operation with JTI Hungary, Philip Morris Magyarország and the Association of Tobacco Industry Investors, at a press conference in Budapest yesterday. The campaign lasts until the end of November.

According to a survey by market researcher GfK Hungária, the black market accounts for 12% of tobacco consumption in Hungary, up from 6% two years earlier and 11% last year.

NAV officials seized nearly 85 million illegal cigarettes in the first nine months of this year, up from 70 million in the whole of 2013, as well as 19,000kg of cut tobacco.

Philip Morris spokesman Ferenc Németh argued that upcoming bills on establishing a tobacco wholesale monopoly and on levying a new tax on the tobacco sector will increase the price of tobacco products, thereby boosting the black market.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

This news item is one of many published daily by HATC, a premier subscription news service which distributes English-language info about Hungary via email or fax. For a free trial of HATC follow this link and click on 'Free Trial Subscription'.

  • How does this content make you feel?