The Romanian tax agency ANAF’s president Bogdan - Nicolae Stan has ordered a control on the activity of the General Customs Directorate and the regional customs departments in the last year, to identify the causes that have led to increased illegal trafficking in cigarettes.

“Cigarette smuggling brings major losses to the national economy and the state budget suffers,” Nicolae Stan said, reports local Agerpres.

The illegal cigarettes market reached an average level of 16.8% last year, up compared to the annual average in 2015.

The level from 2016 represents the highest annual level since 2011, according to recent data published by the consultancy Novel Research. This translated into losses of some EUR 672 million for the state budget, consisting of unrealized revenues from excises and VAT due to the fact that almost one in five cigarette packs in Romania sold illegally, according to cigarette manufacturers.

Romania’s North-East region is the most affected by the illegal activities. The illegal cigarette trade in this region reaches 42% of the overall sales.

editor@romania-insider.com