Cigaretian manufacturers ask Putin not to introduce EGAIS

The Association of manufacturers of Tabakprom tobacco products turned to President Putin, with a request not to distribute a single state automated information system (EGAIS) to the production and retail sales of tobacco products. In return, the Lobbitist Association proposed to mark tobacco packs, the newspaper Vedomosti writes.

EGAIS was created in 2006 to control the turnover of alcohol and cost the federal budget of 5-7 billion rubles. However, if in alcohol the share of the illegal market reached 40%, and the collectibility of excise taxes - about 60%, then, according to Tabakprom, the share of illegal tobacco products in 2016 was 2.2%.

The creation and introduction of EGAIS in the tobacco industry will require about 24 billion rubles, and the cost of special brands for cigarette packs, according to the industry, will increase 10 times - from 2.6 billion to 25.5 billion rubles. Thus, the financial load on the industry will grow by more than 19 times.

Tabakprom proposes to label tobacco products: the system is easier to integrate to trace their movement in the EAEU countries. The marking, according to the organization, has already been used in many countries and showed its effectiveness not only as a means of monitoring the movement of tobacco products, but also as a means of confirming the payment of excise tax and the authenticity of the product.

At the beginning of the year, we recall, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, who oversees, in particular, tobacco market, suggested creating a single regulator to control alcohol and tobacco turnover. This is necessary to combine the fight against illegal products in both markets with the help of EGAIS. Most likely, the new controlling body will be created on the basis of Rosalkogolreguli. The Ministry of Finance supported the idea of ​​including tobacco in EGAIS. Khloponin later stated that EGAIS for the introduction of tobacco can be developed in May.