The Fears of Tobacconists are Justified: Media Leaks Confirm the EU's Willingness to Destroy the Sector

The Fears of Tobacconists are Justified: Media Leaks Confirm the EU's Willingness to Destroy the Sector PR Newswire BRUSSELS, September 11, 2012 BRUSSELS, September 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As reported by media, the regulation on tobacco products that the European Commission is intending to adopt confirms the fears of the European retailers in the aftermath of their mobilization of September 6th. "As shown by the market trends in countries where those measures have already been implemented, consumption won't decrease but will shift towards the illegal market", said CEDT Chairman Giovanni Risso. The same leaks point out that the proposed policies are questionable also from a legal point of view, as - reportedly - the European Commission legal services are raising their brows about the convenience of some of the measures we strongly oppose. "On behalf of more than 700,000 European retailers and over 1,500,000 workers at points of sale, -says Risso - I restate that the current proposal by the Commission will lead to more than 250,000 job losses in the short term, and will also threaten at least 900,000 jobs in tobacco retail in the EU; it will result in an additional over 10 billion Euros in tax revenue losses on top of the 10 billion lost today as a result of the illicit tradeand bring more than 72 billion cigarettes annually over to the black market overnight; and it will do nothing to reduce smoking rates.