Brussels, 15/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a judgment on Thursday 14 March, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the strict limitation imposed by France on the purchase of tobacco abroad does not meet with European rules on the free movement of goods. France must therefore change its legislation or face a fine. The Court was called to give its ruling following a European Commission complaint that France was limiting purchases of tobacco abroad to five packs of cigarettes (in other words a kilo of tobacco), or to ten in certain limited cases. According to the Court, “the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations (…) by using a purely quantitative criterion to assess whether the holding by private individuals of manufactured tobacco from another member state is of a commercial nature, by applying that criterion per individual vehicle (and not per person), and in respect of all the tobacco products.”
The restriction on tobacco in France was adopted in 2006 at a time when tobacco purchases abroad - especially in Belgium and Spain - had increased enormously. When buying abroad, a packet of cigarettes - which is taxed less than in France - is less expensive. Legal purchases abroad and illegal purchases on the internet or under cover account for 20% of tobacco consumption in France, according to Customs. This represents a loss of tax revenue of around €2.5 billion per year. The French government, which had anticipated the Court judgment last week by announcing that it was going to review but not abolish limits on tobacco purchases abroad, said that it was taking note of the Court judgment. However, “on the substance” of the judgment, the government says it is “relaxed on the effects of the judgment at a practical level”. It recalls that the current tobacco directive “bans the import, duty or tax free, of cigarettes between European states, when these cigarettes are intended for resale”. And it adds: “cigarette smuggling is banned and Customs staff are fully mobilised against smuggling” (our translation). (IL/transl.fl)