Cigarette tax hike unlikely
The illicit cigarette trade is evolving in Virginia as criminals obtain business licenses and open fronts for trafficking in order to move millions of dollars in untaxed cigarettes out of Virginia for illegal resale in the Northeast. Competition among illegal dealers is spawning a wide array of other crimes, ranging from credit card fraud to armed robberies to financing terrorism.
Now, the growing trafficking trade has fueled a political debate over how to address the problem without hurting the tobacco industry, which employs thousands in Virginia and has a statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion annually.
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Counterfeit tobacco sniffed out in Wolverhampton raids
Stashed away in secret compartments, hidden under trap doors, stored in deep freezers – just some of the lengths shopkeepers are going to to hide illegal cigarettes from the watchful eyes of the law. But the game was up for traders in Wolverhampton this week when raids by trading standards officers saw more than 40,000 dodgy smokes seized.
Officers and specialist sniffer dogs swooped on three stores in the Whitmore Reans and Blakenhall areas of the city, coming away with a monster haul of fake and non-duty paid cigarettes and alcohol worth £320,000. The loss of revenue on the items was £259,000.
Lear MoreCigarette-smuggling ring arrested in northern Greece
Police in Kilkis, northern Greece, said on Saturday that they had smashed a criminal racket alleged to have smuggled thousands of packets of contraband cigarettes into Greece. Police said they arrested four Greek nationals, aged 24, 36, 37 and 48, on a rural road near the country’s border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) late on Thursday.
The 37-year-old was allegedly driving a lookout car, keeping an eye out for police, which was followed by a second vehicle – in which the two younger men were traveling – that was carrying 6,509 packets of illegal cigarettes. Police confiscated the cargo as well as a thermal camera.
Police said the goods were delivered to the 48-year-old, who then made them available across Greece.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_25/04/2015_549447
Lear MoreFarmers learn how to distinguish genuine fertilisers from fakes
A programme to help farmers distinguish genuine products from fake, copycat and substandard ones is rolling out across the country. Fertiliser makers interviewed by danviet.vn contributed their ideas on how to make it work.
The Programme for Coordinated Monitoring of Law Compliance in Production and Trade of Agricultural Material Inputs 2014 – 2020, was instituted in order to supervise the use of fertilisers, plant protection chemicals, veterinary medicines, feed, plant seeds and seedlings.
Initiated on July 17, 2014 (thus referred to as Programme 17) jointly by the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union, Viet Nam Fatherland Front, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ministry of Industry and Trade, has seen 35 provinces sign up for the programme so far.
Lear MoreCounterfeit items worth Dh4m seized
Dubai Customs reveals figures on World Intellectual Property Day. Dubai Customs made 40 seizures of counterfeit products worth Dh4 million in the first quarter of this year.
The announcement came during a Dubai Customs event to mark World Intellectual Property Day (April 26) on Sunday.In 2014, more than 300 seizures worth over Dh36 million were made. In the same year, the UAE recorded the lowest software piracy rate in the GCC and Middle East and North Africa regions, Dubai Customs said.
“Dubai Customs exhibits a robust development in officers’ capacity to detect counterfeit products. This has led to a significant surge in the number of seizures involving IP [Intellectual Property] infringing goods,” it said in a statement.
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Smuggled cigarettes seized in Baalbek bust
Authorities Friday seized three carloads of smuggled cigarettes from a depot in the eastern city of Baalbek. The joint operation, which took place shortly before midday, was carried out by customs officers and members of State Security.
The cartons of confiscated cigarettes, which included several foreign brands including Pall Mall and Marlboro, were loaded into three vehicles by the security forces.
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Extras On Excise: Cigarette Smuggling Is A Frustrating Version Of Whac-A-Mole For Law Enforcement
Cigarette trafficking – transporting cigarettes from one jurisdiction to another without paying applicable excise taxes—keeps popping up across the country like a non-stop Whac-A-Mole game. But where is the seemingly endless supply of game tokens coming from?
The Tax Foundation has identified increased excise tax rates in certain states as a probable reason. Another possible influence is federal Native American tax jurisprudence’s effect on state and tribal relations.
http://www.bna.com/extras-excise-cigarette-b17179927088/
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Is India’s craving for tobacco declining
India, home to the world’s second highest number of tobacco users (around 275 million), last year had set a target of reducing tobacco use by 20% by 2020 and 30% by 2025. Going by the decline in tobacco products output, the target under an action plan drawn up by the ministry of health and family welfare, may not be out of reach. Stiff increase in tobacco and cigarette taxes and stringent packaging norms have contributed to the decline. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, output of tobacco, which includes cigarettes, bidis and chewable tobacco products, declined by 12.1% in March 2015 from a year ago.
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Counterfeits: A ticking time-bomb calling for urgent action
It is particularly regrettable that the national Treasury, the ministry that should be at the forefront in efforts to grow the economy by protecting its manufacturers from unfair and illegal competition has officials sleeping on the wheel. Or how else can its allocation of a paltry Sh200 million to Kenya Anti-counterfeiting Agency in the current financial year be interpreted Analysts are unanimous that even the Sh500 million that the agency had requested would not have been enough to meet its operational costs if it was to execute its mandate as expected.
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Fake Medications May Be Widespread, But Who Knows?
If you take a medication for your blood pressure, you expect your pill to be what it is labeled to be. This is probably true in the United States and other developed countries, but in many areas of the world, that pill may be counterfeit. Falsified, counterfeit, or substandard medications are a poorly understood problem in global healthcare and their prevalence is not well studied.
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