Ireland: Shop Owners Angry at EU Tobacco Plans

Source from:  Irish Independent 02/25/2013

Shop owners in Ireland are alarmed at proposals by the EU to ban the sale of roll-your-own tobacco in small packages, which they say will boost smuggling and be unfair to less well off smokers.

Under draft proposals, roll-your-own (RYO) will only be available in packs of 40 grammes or more.
 
Most people in Ireland buy their tobacco in 12.5g packs, which cost about €5. Under the EU plan, which is being challenged strongly by the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), it would mean smokers of RYO would have to pay about €16 for a new minimum sized pack.
 
Vincent Jennings of the CSNA says the proposal to increase the minimum weight has emerged because the EU want health warnings to be larger on the packs, but this argument is spurious because all three weights of tobacco sold in Ireland are contained in packages of identical size.
 
In a submission to the Commission, the CSNA pointed out: "The retail price for RYO in Ireland is €10 for 25g. The majority of sales of the 307 tonnes sold in Ireland in 2012 were in pouches of 12.5g. These retail at €5 and had a 68 per cent share of the market. The 25g pouch holds 29 per cent market share. The only other size of RYO pouch is 50g with a three per cent share.
 
"It is perfectly reasonable for us to suggest that the reason that our RYO smuggling rate is lower than that of the cigarette rate is due to the fact that a RYO smoker can purchase a legitimate packet for €5 and does not have to engage with any of the large number of criminal gangs that control the smuggling market," the CSNA said. Enditem