More than 27 million illicit cigarettes and 7,500kg of
hand-rolling tobacco were seized under Operation CeCe in its
first 2 years, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Trading
Standards have revealed.
This comes as new powers come into force from today, 20 July,
which could see penalties of up to £10,000 for any businesses and
individuals who sell illicit tobacco products. The sanctions will
bolster the government’s efforts to tackle the illicit tobacco
market and reduce tobacco duty fraud.
The new powers will also see Local Authority Trading Standards
given the ability to refer cases to HMRC for further investigation.
HMRC, where
appropriate, will administer the penalties and ensure the
appropriate sanction is applied and enforced.
Operation CeCe is a joint HMRC-National Trading Standards
operation which has been working to seize illicit tobacco since
January 2021.
Nis Bandara, HMRC’s
Deputy Director for Excise and Environmental Taxes, said:
Trade in illicit tobacco costs the Exchequer more than £2 billion
in lost tax revenue each year. It also damages legitimate
businesses, undermines public health and facilitates the supply
of tobacco to young people.
These sanctions build on HMRC’s enforcement of illicit
tobacco controls, will strengthen our response against those
involved in street level distribution, and act as a deterrent to
anyone thinking that they can make a quick and easy sale and
undercut their competition.
Kate Pike, Lead Officer for the Chartered Trading Standards
Institute, said:
Trading Standards Officers across the country work with
colleagues in Public Health to reduce the harm from smoking and
with enforcement partners to disrupt criminality in our
communities.
We welcome this addition to our toolkit of measures to tackle
illegal tobacco, ensuring that those who seek to profit from
supplying these products face substantial penalties for doing so,
and their ability to continue to trade is severely impacted.
Lord , Chair of National Trading
Standards, said:
The illegal tobacco trade harms local communities and affects
honest businesses. Through Operation CeCe, we have removed 27
million illegal cigarettes and 7,500kg of hand-rolling tobacco
from the supply chain and we welcome these new measures to clamp
down further on the illicit tobacco trade.
HMRC will launch a
new illicit tobacco strategy later in the year which will replace
‘From Leaf to Light’, which has been the guiding strategy for
tackling the illicit tobacco market since 2015.
Further information
The Finance Act 2022 legislated for tougher sanctions to be
introduced to tackle the sale of illicit tobacco. These include a
new penalty of up to £10,000 for serious contraventions.
Further information on the new penalties
Illicit tobacco is any tobacco product that is sold in the UK
without the payment of excise duty.
The Tobacco Track and Trace (TT&T) system, introduced in
2019, tracks legitimate tobacco products through the supply
chain. The new sanctions are based on detection of non-compliance
with TT&T
regulations.
