Cigarette manufacturers in Serbia ask for suspension of newly adopted excise taxes - prices are likely to rise by 20 RSD per pack

The representatives of three international tobacco companies that have cigarette factories in Serbia have asked the Government of Serbia for urgent suspension of application of newly adopted excise taxes on cigarettes.

- The amendments to the Law on excise taxes, which were adopted by the Parliament of Serbia on January 21st, threaten to destabilize tobacco industry, increase unemployment rate, cut budget incomes, enable cigarette smuggling and discourage existing and potential investors - said the representatives of "Philip Morris", "British American Tobacco" and "Japan Tobacco International" at the press conference.

Skip Bornhiter, the Regional Manager of company "Philip Morris", which is the owner of Tobacco Industry Niš, said that the amendments to the Law on excise taxes, adopted by the Parliament of Serbia, had not been in accordance with the agreement between the Government of Serbia and cigarette manufacturers.

Tobacco manufacturers confirmed that the prices of quality and expensive cigarettes would be increased by up to 20 RSD per pack in case of application of the Law on excise taxes.

The representatives of these three companies reminded that the amount of investments in tobacco industry in Serbia since year 2003 exceeded 1 billion EUR.

According to the opinion of the representatives of tobacco industry, the Ministry of Agriculture's announcement about revoking of the tobacco premium in 2009 is also goin to cause the damage to tobacco and cigarette production in Serbia.

As they explained, that would result in reduction of volume of cigarette production because of the cut or stoppage of export, while the jobs of thousands of people who are now working in tobacco industry and agricultural sector would be endangered.

Philip Morris operations a.d. Niš

British American Tobacco Vranje Div-Bat Vranje

JT International a.d. Senta

Vlada Republike Srbije

Narodna skupština Republike Srbije

British American Tobacco South-East Europe doo Beograd

Japan Tobacco International Beograd-obrisano iz registra

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

excise tax

Law on excise taxes

Skip Bornhiter