Finance ministry instructs fiscal service to step up fight against illegal tobacco market

12:25, 05.07.2019 1 min read

The Finance Ministry of Ukraine has instructed the State Fiscal Service (SFS) to analyze the state of the tobacco products market and step up fight with counterfeit products, the ministry reported on its website on Thursday.

"There are well-known facts of manufacturing and selling counterfeit products and products of unknown origin. Therefore, the Finance Ministry ordered the SFS to analyze the state of the market and update plans to combat these phenomena," the ministry said.

Revenues from excise tax to the national budget for January-June 2019 amounted to UAH 17.9 billion, which is UAH 8.9 billion below the plan due to increased tax rates, the ministry said.

At the same time, the Finance Ministry said that, in addition to a drop in the production of tobacco products, due to a reduction in their consumption and partial satisfaction of demand for products due to warehouse stocks, the market for illegal goods also contributed to the decline in revenues to the national budget.