Brussels, 03/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 2 March, the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee adopted the own initiative report of Zsolt Laszlo Becsey (EPP-ED, Hungary) on the draft directive to revise excise rates on cigarettes and rolling tobacco (EUROPE 9705). The aim of the proposed legislation is to avoid distorting the single market and therefore accepts a moderate increase in taxation but lower than that proposed by the European Commission: the minimum tax on cigarettes should be €64 per 1,000 cigarettes from January 2012 onwards, agreed the committee. But from January 2014, the minimum tax should be €75 per 1,000 cigarettes, less than the €90 proposed by the Commission. In the EU, cross-border purchases can reach up to 13% of the total tobacco market, 4-5% from legitimate trade and 8-9% in contraband. Excise applicable to rolling tobacco are sometimes 30% less than those applied to cigarettes, a situation that helps promote substitution. MEPs agree on a minimum threshold in excise for rolling tobacco: For this tobacco, the committee proposes minimum tax rates of €43 per kilogramme from 2012 and €50/kg from 2014. The increase called for by the parliamentary committee is still lower than that requested by the Commission. The Becsey report will be submitted to a vote at the EP during the next plenary session. (M.B./trans/rh)