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Video length: 2 min
European Union: new rules for purchasing tobacco
European Union: new rules for purchasing tobacco
(France 2)
The limitation on the importation of cigarettes from a European Union country was lifted on Friday March 29. The rules are changing and border tobacconists are gnashing their teeth in the face of foreign competition.
In Spain, as in all other countries of the European Union, the French could only buy one carton of cigarettes per person. But since Friday March 29, there are no more limits as long as the purchase is for personal consumption. The government has removed this threshold to comply with European law.
Foreign competition worries tobacconists
In Spain, tobacco taxes are lower, and prices are unbeatable. Two cartridges cost 107 euros, a price twice as expensive as in France, which encourages cross-border workers to come and buy their cigarettes there. French tobacconists mobilized last February to denounce this foreign competition. Most are deserted. “It is our death (…). We lost half of our customers“, reacts a tobacconist. She would like a harmonized price of tobacco throughout the European Union. For its part, the government indicates that with this decree, customs officers will be able to better fight against cigarette trafficking.
