Tobacco products

Draft Act amending certain tax-related acts and certain other acts – Division Four – amendment to the Excise Duties Act

a) The draft act introduces a new tax on heated tobacco products as a non-harmonised tax, which does not fall within the scope of Directive 2011/64/EU. The provisions on the taxation of heated tobacco products are based on the existing provisions of the Excise Duties Act concerning ‘conventional’ tobacco products. Excise duty on heated tobacco products is applied by weight, with the tax rate the same as that applicable to smoking tobacco.

b) Furthermore, it is proposed to introduce, in addition to the ‘unmarked tobacco product’ category, the category of ‘tobacco products marked in an incorrect manner’, depending on the severity of the breach of obligations related to the marking of tobacco products.

c) In connection with the amendments to the related legislation implementing EU law, the draft act revokes the requirement that the tobacco tax stamp must be damaged when a unit packet is opened.

This notification concerns only Division Four of the package of amendments to tax laws, i.e. the amendment to the Excise Duties Act within the Government’s draft Act amending certain tax-related acts and certain other acts. For the sake of completeness, the entire package of the amendments has been attached as the BASIC ACT.

Keywords: heated tobacco products, tobacco products, marking with tobacco tax stamps, excise duty on tobacco products, excise duty on heated tobacco products