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.
