Buying your pack of cigarettes abroad could be much more complicated if this project sees the light of day…
Paying less for a pack of cigarettes by buying them abroad is the practice of many smokers. Whether on vacation, taking advantage of a trip, a loved one going abroad or simply taking advantage of the proximity of certain borders, the practice is known. However, a measure could really shake up their habits. After successive increases in the price of cigarettes, a new proposal should make many smokers react.
Supported by Frédéric Valletoux, Horizons deputy in the National Assembly, it boils down to an a priori simple idea but more complicated to implement than it appears: a cigarette must be smoked in the country where it was purchased. The text therefore proposes to set the maximum quantities of tobacco products deliverable to tobacconists, based on national consumption, with a maximum increase of 5%. Today, national tobacco consumption in France is estimated at 49 billion cigarettes per year. However, manufacturers only deliver a little more than 31 billion cigarettes each year. The difference is explained simply: in addition to contraband, it is found in purchases made with our European neighbors.
The technique is well known, particularly to cross-border smokers. Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland but also the Principality of Andorra are all places where a pack of cigarettes can be much cheaper than a few kilometers away, on the French side. In Luxembourg, for example, annual consumption is estimated at 600 million cigarettes, where no less than 3 billion cigarettes are sold each year.
The project could make the purchase of multiple cartridges or packages much more complicated if these kinds of “quotas” were put in place. Already today, a cross-border worker can only bring back from Luxembourg to France one carton of tobacco purchased in Luxembourg. Tomorrow, the quantity could be further reduced or even zero. The proposal could therefore only have an impact in the event of European harmonization. The question of Andorra, which is not part of the EU, would remain. The walk promises to be long but the project is in fact based on a global protocol, already adopted in 2018 by France, five years ago already…