Niall Cody, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, has told the Public Accounts Committee that while the newly introduced tobacco stamp is an effective “control mechanism” to determine whether certain tobacco products are illegal, “where some of these cigarettes are being sold, people are not particularly interested whether there is a tobacco stamp on the package.”
Cody was referring to a question from Sligo-North Leitrim TD John Perry, as to whether the tobacco stamps could be duplicated.
In response, Cody said that the stamp is “like the oil marker; anything can be reproduced but it will not be possible to reproduce all the security features.”
Cody said that Revenue statistics indicate that illicit cigarettes “make up somewhere around 10% to 11% of the tobacco market”.
He added that Revenue does not currently test illicit cigarettes to determine whether they cause a bigger health concern than legal products. “That is not an issue for ourselves,” he said.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
