ASH Daily News for 19/02/1999
HEADLINES
ASH, 16 Fitzhardinge Street, London, W1H 9PL. Tel. 0171 224 0743 Fax. 0171
224 0471
ASH Daily News
Friday 19th February 1999
Headlines
Nordic groups seek to keep duty free sales.
Tobacco smugglers cost taxpayers £2.7 billion.
WHO joins with drug industry against smoking.
Full Text
Nordic groups seek to keep duty free sales.
Scandinavian ferry operators are planning to exploit tax loopholes and seek
legal rulings allowing them to maintain duty free sales despite its proposed
abolition in the EU this summer. Four companies have drawn up separate proposals
on how to avoid the loss of duty free income, which accounts for almost a third
of their total revenues. The action by Stena, Scandinavian Seaways, Silja and
Viking Lines represents the first formal challenge to this week’s decision
by the European Commission to push ahead with the abolition of duty free sales
in the face of opposition from the UK and German governments. Stena, which
serves routes to Scandinavia, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland, is seeking a
European Court ruling that the Commission has no jurisdiction over retailing in
international waters.
Source: Financial Times 19/02/99
Tobacco smugglers cost taxpayers £2.7 billion.
Tobacco smugglers cost taxpayers £2.7 billion last year, nearly three
times the £1 billion estimated by Customs. Smuggled tobacco accounts for
55 percent of cross-Channel seizures by Customs. The Tobacco Alliance says the
black market is far more lucrative than in 1994 as smugglers cash in on higher
prices in the UK than the rest of Europe. The group, which represents 26,000
shopkeepers, called last night for the Government to stop the trend in rising
tax to prevent the prices gap from widening further. Spokesman Paul Mason said:
"The only way to stop smuggling is to take the profits away. This can only
be done by rationalising tobacco taxes across the European Union."
Source: The Mirror 19/02/99
[Comment: For a counter view, see ASH’s Budget Submission on our
website –
http:// http://www.ash.org.uk/papers/budget99.html]
WHO joins with drug industry against smoking.
The WHO has set up a project to help smokers in Europe, Russia and the
central Asian republics to stop smoking. The organisation has linked up with
GlaxoWellcome, Novartis Consumer Health, and Pharmacia and Upjohn, which all
produce smoking cessation aids.
Source: BMJ Volume 318, 20th February 1999
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