Finland wants to renew restrictions on passenger imports of tobacco from other EU countries
Old and new member-states locked in dispute over minimum taxation
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Finland and the other old member-states of the European Union want to restrict personal imports of tobacco products from members that refuse to raise the minimum tax on tobacco.
The move would lead to the imposition of new limits on passenger imports just as the old ones are expiring.
In addition to Finland, the move is being supported by a number of other countries with high tobacco tax rates, such as Britain, Sweden, Austria, Germany and Ireland.
However, the proposal is problematic for many new EU members, which have only recently achieved or are getting close to the previous minimum duty level.
For instance, Latvia’s tax level recently reached the minimum level, and that of Estonia is also close.
The new member-states agreed to increasing the minimum duty rate only if they were given a long transitional period in implementing it.
Finland and other countries with a high duty payable on tobacco agreed to this only on the condition that they should be allowed to restrict passenger imports from the countries with a new transition period.
The EU ministers of finance negotiated on the matter in Brussels on Tuesday.
The old member states see the hike in the minimum tax as important, because they fear that their citizens will be bringing in more tobacco products from the Baltic region and Eastern Europe.
Finland is blocking growth in imports from Estonia by imposing a limit on passenger imports on tobacco products in packages which do not have warning labels in Finnish or Swedish.
On Thursday, Minister of Social Services Paula Risikko (Nat. Coalition Party) did not want to comment on either effort to reduce passenger imports.
“The matter is not finished”, Risikko said in Luxembourg.
Slightly under one fifth of all cigarettes smoked in Finland are bought abroad.
There is great variation in the price of cigarettes in the 27 EU countries.
A package of brand-name cigarettes costs one euro in Romania. The price is six times as high in Britain.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.5.2009 - TODAY |
 Finland wants to renew restrictions on passenger imports of tobacco from other EU countries |
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