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Illicit Trade in Tobacco

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 May 2013

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Questions (88)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

88. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 200 of 14 May 2013, the way payments to be made were calculated; the quantity of smuggled tobacco the payments made under the MOU represent; if the payments represent tobacco that was leaked onto the Irish market or are they calculated by smuggled tobacco seized on a European-wide basis that is by the size of the Irish market as a proportion of the EU market; the tobacco companies that made payments to the Revenue Commissioners between 2008 and 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24765/13]

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Written answers

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the agreements between major tobacco manufacturers, the EU and participating Member States provide for annual payments to the EU and to qualifying Member States over a specified period of years, and for additional payments in respect of certain seizures of cigarettes. The following is a link to the section of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) website containing the agreements with the tobacco manufacturers: http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud/investigations/eu-revenue/cigarette_smuggling_en.htm

The overall amount of each annual payment is laid down in the agreement concerned, and is allocated among the European Commission and the qualifying Member States in accordance with an agreed formula. The formulae under the agreements make these allocations by reference to factors including a Member State’s relative share of total tax and duty revenues from cigarettes manufactured by the company in question in all the Member States concerned, and the proportion of seizures of cigarettes manufactured by the company accounted for by the Member State. Additional payments are made in respect of seizures of a company’s product that exceed a defined threshold, and fall to be calculated by reference to the tax and duties that that would have been paid on the quantity of cigarettes seized had they been sold legally.

I am advised that, during the period from 2008 to 2012, Ireland received payments under the international agreements with the four major tobacco manufacturers i.e. Japan Tobacco International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Limited, and Philip Morris International.

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