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E-book Combatting Illicit Trade on the EU Border : A Comparative Perspective

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Penilaian

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Tobacco has been with mankind for millennia. Yet, its expansion as a trade itemfor personal use dates to the sixteenth century and the arrival of the Europeans to theAmericas. In the twentieth century, scientists concluded that tobacco use is detri-mental to the health of its users. Tobacco has been identified by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) as one of the four major risk factors that contribute to thedevelopment of non-communicable diseases. Tobacco“accounts for over 7.2 milliondeaths every year (including from the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke)”.1The recent global rise of deaths attributed to non-communicable diseases hasmotivated international organisations to take action to prevent and control the riskfactors.2Controlling the production and controlling the use of tobacco have beensignificant parts of this process.The relationship between tobacco and individual country policies are complex.On the one hand, states are socially and politically committed to the reduction oftobacco use. On the other hand, states benefitfinancially from tax revenue from themanufacture and sales of tobacco products. From this perspective, the relationshipsstates have with tobacco are like their relationships with alcohol. Although the use ofalcohol and tobacco constitute health hazards, they remain legal, unlike narcoticsubstances. As von Lampe justly states,“cigarettes are essentially a legal good”.3However, states are committed tofighting against revenue loss from the manufactureand sale of tobacco products. The manufacture and trade of cigarettes are legal,provided these processes conform to the cigarette taxation rules adopted by states.Cigarette trade is illegal when manufacturers and sellers evade cigarette taxes.National policies on the tobacco trade struggle to balance states’fiscal interestswith their responsibility to protect public health. This balance is mainly struck bypricing tobacco products at high rates. As stated in Article 6.1 of the WHO FCTC,price and tax measures are effective means of reducing tobacco consumption byvarious segments of the population, young people, in particular. Therefore, tobaccoproducts are legal but taxable with the Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes.Moreover, the EU Member States are obligated to apply the European minimumrates of the excise duty.4This application is uniform because, as mentioned in thepreamble to the 2011 Directive,“the level of taxation is a major factor in the price oftobacco products, which in turn influences consumers’smoking habits.Fraud andsmuggling undermine tax induced price levels and thus jeopardise the achievementof tobacco control and health protection objectives”.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

341 NOW c

Penerbit

Switzerland : Springer Nature., 2021

Deskripsi Fisik

283 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9783030510190

Klasifikasi

341

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

International Law

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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