Independent retailers have welcomed a fresh crackdown on smuggled tobacco by the Government, but fear it will be wasted if attempts to enforce a tobacco display ban continue.
The industry verdict follows the publication of a joint strategy on tobacco smuggling between HM Revenue & Customs and the UK Border Agency.
The report, which was released alongside the Government's Pre-Budget Report, unveiled plans to create a nationwide network of inland excise enforcement teams to tackle counterfeit trade in communities and make it harder to smuggle tobacco into the UK by improving detection at UK borders.
HM Revenue & Customs had seized more than 14 billion cigarettes and 1,000 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco since 2000, the report said, and the two agencies aimed to restrict the size of the UK illicit cigarette market to no more than a 13% share by seizing at least 20% of black market cigarettes during 2008 and 2009.
"The strategy shows the Government needs to tackle the black market before targeting legitimate, hardworking retailers such as me," said Ken Patel, a retailer from Leicester and national spokesman for the Tobacco Retailers Alliance's Retailers Against Smuggling campaign.
"The Government needs to realise that hiding tobacco out of sight in shops, as it is proposing to do, would only worsen the problem of counterfeit tobacco ."
A display ban would "play into the hands of criminals trying to infiltrate the retail network" added Christopher Ogden, CEO of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. He claimed the economic climate and this week's duty increase on tobacco would also exacerbate the problem.
Public health charity Action on Smoking and Health claimed the 2009 target had already been reached and a target for raising seizures of hand-rolling tobacco to 15% was unachievable at HMRC's current rate of progress. "The lack of tougher targets is a major concern," said ASH director Deborah Arnott.
The industry verdict follows the publication of a joint strategy on tobacco smuggling between HM Revenue & Customs and the UK Border Agency.
The report, which was released alongside the Government's Pre-Budget Report, unveiled plans to create a nationwide network of inland excise enforcement teams to tackle counterfeit trade in communities and make it harder to smuggle tobacco into the UK by improving detection at UK borders.
HM Revenue & Customs had seized more than 14 billion cigarettes and 1,000 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco since 2000, the report said, and the two agencies aimed to restrict the size of the UK illicit cigarette market to no more than a 13% share by seizing at least 20% of black market cigarettes during 2008 and 2009.
"The strategy shows the Government needs to tackle the black market before targeting legitimate, hardworking retailers such as me," said Ken Patel, a retailer from Leicester and national spokesman for the Tobacco Retailers Alliance's Retailers Against Smuggling campaign.
"The Government needs to realise that hiding tobacco out of sight in shops, as it is proposing to do, would only worsen the problem of counterfeit tobacco ."
A display ban would "play into the hands of criminals trying to infiltrate the retail network" added Christopher Ogden, CEO of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. He claimed the economic climate and this week's duty increase on tobacco would also exacerbate the problem.
Public health charity Action on Smoking and Health claimed the 2009 target had already been reached and a target for raising seizures of hand-rolling tobacco to 15% was unachievable at HMRC's current rate of progress. "The lack of tougher targets is a major concern," said ASH director Deborah Arnott.
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