Legal Cigarettes Research Articles

Response of legal and illegal cigarette prices to a tax increase in Ethiopia

BackgroundIn 2020, Ethiopia passed a landmark tax proclamation implementing an evidence-based mixed excise system aimed at curbing tobacco use. This study evaluates the impact of the tax increase of more...

The cigarette market in Brazil: new evidence on illicit practices from the 2019 National Health Survey

ObjectiveTo explore new evidence on illicit practices, such as selling legal brands below the minimum legal price (MLP), and smugglers selling illicit brands at or above the MLP.MethodsFor the first...

Tax revenue lost due to illicit cigarettes in South Africa: 2002−2022

ObjectiveTo estimate lost excise and value-added tax (VAT) revenue as a result of illicit cigarette trade from 2002 to 2022.DesignUsing gap analysis, we estimated the number of illicit cigarettes by...

Illegal product purchasing in the experimental tobacco marketplace: Effects of menthol cigarette and cigarette ventilation ban

BackgroundTobacco regulations may increase demand for illegal cigarettes. We use the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace to estimate the impact of banning menthol cigarettes (Experiment 1) and decreasing allowable cigarette filter ventilation levels (Experiment 2). MethodsCrowdsourced participants were randomized into one of four groups (2×2 factorial design). Experiment 1 included menthol availability (yes/no) by purchasing option (legal only vs illegal available). Experiment 2 included filter-vented cigarettes availability (yes/no) by purchasing option (legal only vs illegal available). Participants were given an individualized budget to purchase tobacco. Percent budget spent was the outcome measure. ResultsExperiment 1, with a legal marketplace only, non-menthol cigarette purchasing was lower (p=0.010) and electronic-cigarette purchasing was higher (p=0.016), when cigarettes were banned compared to when they were available. With an illegal marketplace, switching to legal non-menthol cigarettes was less likely (p<0.001) and purchasing illegal menthol cigarettes was higher (p<0.001), when cigarettes were banned compared to when they were available. Experiment 2, with a legal marketplace only, cigarette purchasing was lower (p=0.010), when the participant's filtered vented cigarettes were banned compared to when they were available. With an illegal marketplace, purchasing the legal low-ventilated cigarette option was lower (p<0.001) and significant differences in illegal filter-vented cigarette purchasing were not observed, when their filter-vented cigarettes were banned compared to when they were available legally. ConclusionsWithout an illegal option, both restrictions decreased cigarette purchasing, but the menthol ban increased e-cigarette purchasing. With an illegal option, a menthol ban increased illegal cigarette purchasing, but decreasing filter ventilation did not.

E-cigarette Price Impacts legal and Black-Market Cigarette Purchasing Under a Hypothetical Reduced-Nicotine Cigarette Standard.

The Tobacco Control Act gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to establish a reduced-nicotine content standard in combusted cigarettes. This future potential regulation may pose a significant public health benefit; however, black markets may arise to meet demand for normal-nicotine content cigarettes among smokers unwilling to transition to or use an alternative product. We determined the behavioral-economic substitutability of illicit normal-nicotine content cigarettes and e-cigarettes for reduced-nicotine content cigarettes in a hypothetical reduced-nicotine regulatory market. Adult cigarette smokers were recruited online to complete hypothetical cigarette purchasing tasks for usual-brand cigarettes, reduced-nicotine content cigarettes, and illicit normal-nicotine content cigarettes, as well as a cross-commodity task in which reduced-nicotine content cigarettes were available across multiple prices and illicit cigarettes were concurrently available for $12/pack. Participants completed two three-item cross-commodity purchasing tasks in which e-cigarettes were available for $4/pod or $12/pod alongside reduced-nicotine content cigarettes and illicit cigarettes. Usual-brand cigarette purchasing was greater than illicit normal-nicotine content cigarettes and less than reduced-nicotine content cigarettes. In the cross-commodity purchasing tasks, illicit cigarettes and e-cigarettes both served as economic substitutes for reduced-nicotine content cigarettes; however, when e-cigarettes were available for $4/pod, they were purchased at greater levels than illicit cigarettes and resulted in greater reductions in reduced-nicotine content cigarettes purchasing than when available for $12/pod. These data suggest that some smokers are willing to engage in illicit cigarette purchasing in a reduced-nicotine regulatory environment, but e-cigarette availability at lower prices may reduce black-market engagement and shift behavior away from combusted cigarette use. E-cigarettes available at low, but not high, prices were stronger substitutes for legal, reduced-nicotine content cigarettes than illegal, normal-nicotine content cigarettes in a hypothetical reduced-nicotine tobacco market. Our findings suggest the availability of relatively inexpensive e-cigarettes may reduce illicit cigarette purchasing and combusted cigarette use under a reduced-nicotine cigarette standard.

The visual attentional pattern toward smoking area signs in legal and illegal cigarette smokers: Preliminary findings

Attentional patterns towards signs of smoking area might be different on individual levels. This would play a significant role in the decision-making process of illegal smoking behavior. In order to understand and effectively intervene the such behavior, this study aims to investigate the attentional pattern of the legal and illegal smokers toward the area signs (e.g. smoking area vs. no-smoking area) using a free viewing task and eye-tracking method. The participants were grouped into 25 legal smokers groups (LSG) and 15 illegal smokers groups (ISG) based on their usual smoking spots specified in the self-report questionnaire. During the free-viewing task where their visual attentional pattern was measured by an eye-tracking method, the participants were presented with eight pictorial stimuli with the area signs and the smoking-related cues. To examine the initial orientation process, the initial fixation latency, total dwell time, and dwell time by time blocks were analyzed for the smoking area signs. As a result, while LSG showed faster initial fixation toward the smoking area signs than no-smoking area signs, ISG did not. Also, LSG showed higher proportion of initial visual attention to smoking area signs. These findings suggest that the initial orienting attentional pattern of LSG toward the area signs might play a significant role in the legal smoking behavior.

Juridical Review of the Criminal act of Cigarette Circulation Without Excise Tape According to Law Number 39 of 2007 Concerning Excise

Background: In Article 1 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution, it is stated that the State of the Republic of Indonesia is a country of law where the law is used as the commander-in-chief to realize truth and justice in Indonesia. Law is a series of rules that master certain behaviors and deeds of human life in social life.&#x0D; &#x0D; Objective: This study aims to find out and analyze the legal regulation of the circulation of cigarettes without excise in Indonesia. As well as knowing and analyzing law enforcement against the circulation of non-excise cigarettes in Indonesia.&#x0D; &#x0D; Methods: This research belongs to the normative type of research. So that it can be known that legal cigarette distribution in Indonesia can be measured through business legality, product legality, and the legality of advertising and promotion as a means of circulation.&#x0D; &#x0D; Result: Regarding the legal regulation on the circulation of non-excise cigarettes in Indonesia, namely because cigarettes are included in the characteristics of excisable goods regulated in Law Number 39 of 2007. Furthermore, law enforcement against the circulation of cigarettes without excise can be subject to criminal penalties in the form of imprisonment and fines which are cumulative (combined) criminal penalties.&#x0D; &#x0D; Conclusion: Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that cigarettes that are legally distributed in Indonesia can be measured through business legality, product legality, and the legality of advertising and promotion as a means of circulation.

Tobacco control policies in India: a review

With up to half of those who use tobacco as intended dying from it, tobacco is also the main product that legitimate consumers buy that harms each consumer. Because of insufficient public awareness of the risks, aggressive advertising, and a lack of effective public policies to combat it, tobacco use is widespread. It has been estimated that tobacco use during the 20th century contributed to about 100 million deaths overall. The global adult tobacco survey (GATS) India (2010) estimates that there are 275 million adult tobacco users in India (216 million in the country and 59 million in the metro area). In 2004, India was one of the first few countries to ratify the WHO framework convention on tobacco control. The general public's and local communities' support for tobacco control has worked in concert with government-sponsored tobacco control policies. Combating the world-ending effects of tobacco requires the successful implementation of planned procedures. Therefore, the push of tobacco regulations is on the small legal cigarette market, which puts a lot of use pressure on the illegal cigarette alternative, which is resistant with hints the Nation.

Determination of Nicotine in Cigarette Tobacco Smuggled to Brazil by Modified QuEChERS Methodology

The study of cigarette authenticity in Brazil is important due to increasing consumption of contraband cigarettes. Nicotine concentration is an important parameter reflecting the quality of tobacco used in the production of these cigarettes. Simple methods for this determination, which produce reduced waste, are environmentally and industrially important. The nicotine concentration of smuggled cigarette tobacco was determined by the QuEChERS method, requiring some modifications, such as decreasing the volume of the extractor solvent, changes in pH, and removal of the sample hydration step. Quantification was performed by gas chromatography using a flame ionization detector. The Doehlert matrix design was used to optimize the method. The extraction recoveries ranged from 97.5% to 99.6%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) ≤ 2.5% and limits of detection and quantification of 0.6 mg L-1 and 2.5 mg L-1, respectively. The method was sensitive and accurate for the detection and quantification of nicotine. The nicotine concentration in contraband cigarettes was found to be lower than that observed in legal cigarettes. The method was successfully applied to real samples of smuggled and legal cigarettes, providing a robust method for routine analysis and proving the need for more studies on quality control of smuggled cigarettes in Brazil.

Trend of Smuggled Cigarette Consumption in Tehran in the Last Two Decades.

Illicit tobacco trade is focused on Iran as a main target in the WHO's eastern Mediterranean region. Serial studies of Cigarette Packs Survey with same method were conducted in Tehran between 2003 and 2015 to evaluate consumed smuggled cigarettes. This study as the fourth Cigarette Packs Survey is designed to indicate the trends of illicit cigarette trade in Tehran in the last two decades. A cross-sectional household study was carried out in early 2021 in Tehran on 3042 persons who smoked at least one daily cigarette for a year. The sampling method was like the sampling method used in three previous studies. Participants aged≥15 years were asked to reveal their current cigarette pack, which was either legal cigarettes (having governmental label); or illegal cigarettes (without governmental label). The subjects included 2536 males (83.4%) and the mean age was 39.9±12.1 years; 1854 subjects (60.9%) showed foreign cigarettes and 1188 (39.1%) showed domestic cigarettes; 2705 (88.9%) consumed legal cigarettes and 337 (11.1%) consumed illegal cigarettes. Consumption of illegal cigarettes by gender showed greater use of smuggled cigarettes in males (11.7%vs 8.1%). No significant differences were seen based on the marital and educational status in terms of illegal cigarettes prevalence. Compare with previous studies, the trend of consumption of illicit cigarettes was decreasing in past two decades. This could be due to new regulation on monitoring cigarette distribution and changing illegal brands to legal as joint production.

Illicit trade in tobacco products: recent trends and coming challenges

BackgroundIllicit trade in tobacco products is a menace to the goal of eliminating tobacco consumption. Although tax policy is very effective in reducing consumption, illicit trade can reduce (though not...

A Qualitative Study of Pictorial Health Warnings on Malaysian Cigarette Packs: How Do the Adults Understand Them?

The WHO recommended pictorial health warnings (PHWs) on cigarette packs in 2003 to educate and warn the public of smoking effects. Malaysia too has implemented this policy since 2009. This study explored the public’s understanding of the gazetted PHWs depicted on cigarette packs available in Malaysia. A qualitative study using four focus group discussions (FGDs) was conducted among smokers and non-smokers aged 18–40 in Malacca, Peninsular Malaysia. Thematic analyses were performed using the Atlas Ti version 8.0 software. Six themes have emerged reflecting the public’s understanding of the existing PHWs in Malaysia, namely, (i) awareness and exposures, (ii) recall and attention, (iii) perceived goals, (iv) perceived target groups, (v) attitude in understanding, and (vi) knowledge and meaning of PHWs. All participants were aware of the PHWs depicted on legal cigarettes but not seen on most illicit cigarettes. PHWs were perceived to give awareness and warning about the smoking effects targeting smokers and non-smokers. Participants understood the lung and oral health-related images easily than other body parts such as gangrene foot, miscarriages, etc. Besides enforcement on illicit cigarettes without PHWs, policymakers or relevant authorities should emphasize creating relevant and clear pictorial messages in educating the public to avoid confusion affecting the public’s understanding of the PHWs.

New evidence of illicit cigarette consumption and government revenue loss in Indonesia.

INTRODUCTIONIllicit cigarettes because of their affordability could increase smoking prevalence, especially among young people. They also cause a large revenue loss for the government. This study aims to estimate illicit cigarette consumption and government revenue loss in Indonesia, a country with a very high smoking prevalence, especially among males.METHODSWe estimated illicit cigarette trade in terms of volume and revenue loss. Illicit trade was estimated as the discrepancy between legal cigarette sales and domestic consumption recorded by national representative surveys. Data sources included Basic Health Research Survey, Global Adult Tobacco Survey, National Socioeconomic Survey, and data from Ministry of Finance.RESULTSWe found that illicit cigarette consumption fluctuated from 19 billion sticks in 2007 to 14 billion sticks in 2013, and sharply increased to 59 billion sticks in 2018. Relative to cigarette consumption, illicit cigarettes were the lowest at 5% in 2013 and highest at 19% of consumption in 2018 (assuming 0% underreporting). The estimated government revenue loss ranged from IDR 24.2 to 42.0 trillion (US$ 1668 to 2897 million), which corresponds to 15.8% to 27.5% of cigarette excise revenue in 2018.CONCLUSIONSIn Indonesia, illicit cigarette consumption was found to be high and increasing, which contributed to a large government revenue loss (almost onethird of tobacco excise tax revenue). To reduce illegal cigarette production and smuggling, the government should increase resources to enforce the regulation on the excise tax system including stronger penalties, especially related to illicit cigarette production.

The effect of legal retail price on legal cigarette demand and illicit trade in Southeast Asia

The effect of legal retail price on legal cigarette demand and illicit trade in Southeast Asia

The Magnitude of Illicit Cigarette Trade in Malaysia: Empirical Evidence Compared to Industry Studies

In Malaysia, the illicit cigarette trade issue has been a priority for the government. The Malaysian government has enacted the necessary laws and regulations to combat the trade in illicit cigarettes. In order to discourage the expansion of these illegal activities, the government increased penalties in January 2014 by imposing fines of up to RM 10,0001 and jail terms of up to two years for those involved in the purchase or sale of illicit cigarettes. Later, former Customs director-general Datuk T. Subromaniam proposed to parliament in July 2017, a minimum fine of RM 100,0002 for selling illicit cigarettes and approved amendments to the Customs Act 1967 and Excise Act 1967 in January 2019. With the higher penalty in place, only 466.16 million sticks of illicit cigarettes were seized by the Royal Malaysia Customs Department (RMCD) in the year 2019 compared to 1,266.2 million sticks of illicit cigarettes seized in the year 2018. The stark difference in the numbers demonstrates the effectiveness of imposing higher penalties in reducing illicit trade activities. According to International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project’s Southeast Asia surveys, the average price of illicit cigarettes was about RM 1.62 per pack in 2004 and increased to only RM 4.23 between 2011 and 2012 (Liber et al., 2015). In May 2017, former Customs director-general Datuk T. Subromaniam told the New Straits Times that illicit cigarettes were sold between the price of RM 3.50 to RM 8.00 for a twenty-sticks cigarette pack. In contrast, the retail price of the most popular brand of legal cigarette is sold at RM 17, which is much higher than those illicit cigarettes. According to the ITC project (2012)’s survey-based study, by collecting used cigarette packs from self-reporting smokers in Malaysia, illicit packs of cigarettes often do not include pictorial health warnings. From the used cigarette packs, the market share of illicit cigarettes in Malaysia was estimated to be 19% in 2009 (ITC Project, 2012). However, this study was only published for the year 2009; therefore, the latest information and magnitude of illicit cigarette trade remains inadequate in Malaysia.

Contributions of the analysis of discarded cigarette packages in household waste in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to estimate the illegal market.

The illicit trade of tobacco products, by enabling access to cheaper cigarettes, favors smoking initiation and hinders its cessation, minimizing the effects of price policy and taxes on reducing the demand for tobacco. This is especially the case among populations with lower income and schooling, where smoking is concentrated. Its confrontation requires multisectoral actions, aligned with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, supported by estimates of the illicit trade magnitude and the analysis of its characteristics. This study analyzes, based on samples of household solid waste collected in 2018 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the conformity of discarded cigarette packages with criteria for their regular commercialization in Brazil, classifying them as legal or illegal. The evaluation was also carried out for the 15 Planning Areas (PA) of the municipality. The Social Progress Index (SPI) was chosen to represent heterogeneities among PA. The average percentage of illegal cigarette packs found was 26.79%, ranging from 3.36% to 46.29% among PA. The PAs with high illegality presented lower Social Progress Index and lower percentages of legal cigarette packages with a price equal to or greater than BRL 7.25. Among the illegal packages, 98.07% were manufactured in Paraguay. The study contributes methodologically to measure the consumption of illegal cigarettes in the second economic capital of Brazil, supporting the National Tobacco Control Policy in the struggle against illicit trade of tobacco products and in the effective implementation of the pricing and tax policy on these products.

Estimating illicit cigarette consumption using a tax-gap approach, India.

ObjectiveTo estimate the magnitude of illicit cigarette consumption in India using a tax-gap approach.MethodsIn the tax-gap analysis, illicit cigarette consumption in India was defined as the difference between total and legal consumption. Data on total cigarette consumption came from two national Global Adult Tobacco Surveys carried out from 2009 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2017. Legal consumption was derived from Government of India data on domestic cigarette production and trade.FindingsEstimated total cigarette consumption was 104.8 billion sticks in 2009 to 2010 and 94.2 billion sticks in 2016 to 2017, a decrease of 10.6 billion sticks, or of 10%, over the time period. Legal cigarette consumption fell from 99.4 to 88.5 billion sticks over the same period, a drop of 11%. Estimated illicit cigarette consumption was, therefore, 5.4 billion sticks in 2009 to 2010 and 5.6 billion sticks in 2016 to 2017, and accounted for 5.1% and 6.0% of the market in these periods, respectively. Consequently, only about 1 in 20 cigarettes consumed in India was illicit. Between 2016 and 2017, the estimated equivalent retail sales value of illicit cigarettes was 49 billion Indian rupees (753 million United States dollars, US$) and the estimated tax revenue foregone was 25 billion Indian rupees (US$ 390 million).ConclusionIllicit cigarette consumption is relatively modest in India by global standards. Nonetheless, India should strengthen its capacity to control the illicit tobacco market as part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy, while also continuing to implement traditional demand reduction measures, such as tobacco taxation.

Discrepancies in the Brazilian tobacco production chain: raw inputs, international trade and legal cigarette production.

The significant market share of illicit cigarettes in Brazil is well established in the literature, nonetheless lacking clarity in terms of its actual size. Paraguay has a paramount role in this discussion, acting both as a supplier of illegal tobacco products to Brazil and as buyer of inputs from Brazil. A proper analysis of the illicit cigarette market in Brazil necessarily involves a deeper discussion of the Paraguayan production chain and its interaction with the Brazilian market. International data were used to establish the bilateral legal trade pattern of tobacco-related products between Paraguay and Brazil, including inputs and final outputs. Inspired by the technical requirements methodology, available unmanufactured tobacco within Brazil was obtained by adding-up domestic production with net imports. Its historical behaviour was compared with legal cigarette production patterns within Brazil. Supposing rational agents, these two links of the Brazilian cigarette production chain should behave similarly: for lower final usage, less domestically available supply. Any discrepancies would suggest something abnormal in the production chain. Brazil is a relevant legal supplier of intermediate goods for the Paraguayan tobacco complex and has an irrelevant position as legal buyer of Paraguayan tobacco-related goods (either inputs or final goods). Paraguayan net imports of production inputs seem to be abnormally high for their legal needs. In Brazil, a clear discrepancy between domestically available unmanufactured tobacco (input) and tax-based cigarette production (output) emerged throughout the years and, even more striking, has been growing over the years. Excessive cigarette production inputs in Paraguay suggest a potential oversupply of cigarettes in that country-likely diverted to illicit trade. Likewise, discrepancies in the Brazilian tobacco production chain are also evidence of illicit tobacco trading in Brazil-not necessarily of final products. A deeper analysis of the Brazil/Paraguay tobacco supply chain would be welcomed given the likely operation of these two countries as a single 'production/consumption hub' of both legal and illegal products (either inputs or final tobacco products). Public policies should foster controls not only on cigarettes but also on raw inputs for their production.

Distinguishing legal and illegal cigarettes by applying paper spray mass spectrometry and chemometric tools.

Smoking is responsible for one in five deaths around the world. Thus, governments have been trying to reduce the number of active smokers by increasing taxes on products. This scenario creates a new problem by raising the consumption of illegally traded cigarettes, which are often seized and analyzed by police forces. Legal and illegal cigarette samples were extracted and analyzed using paper spray ionization mass spectrometry (PS-MS). The mass spectrometer was set to operate in full-scan positive ion mode to yield representative chemical profiles of each sample. The results were used to build a chemometric model using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to discriminate between both sets of samples, i.e. legal and illegal. The PS-MS procedure was fast, simple and efficient, yielding high-quality and reproducible mass spectra with a very good signal-to-noise ratio. Even though all samples displayed visually indistinguishable mass spectra, the PS-MS data handled by the PLS-DA approach furnished a model that reached sample classification with rates of 100% and 80% for the training and validation sets, respectively. A novel methodology was successfully developed associating the PS-MS technique with chemometric analysis to differentiate between legal and illegal cigarettes. The PS-MS technique proved to be adequate for obtaining fingerprints of such types of samples despite high complexity, and a PLS-DA model was successfully constructed achieving 82.1% accuracy.

Interference by the tobacco industry in data on cigarette consumption in Brazil

The tobacco industry normally overestimates the illegal market's size in order to reinforce the idea of its direct relationship to the choice to increase taxes by the internal revenue administration. In Brazil, the last increase in taxes on tobacco products was in 2016. The growth of demand for illegal cigarettes has other macrosocial determinants that the industry does not take into account, such as the increase in the economic capacity to purchase legal cigarettes. The article aims to test the hypothesis of the "Brazilian consumer's economic reason" from 2015 to 2019 by comparing the estimated consumptions of illegal cigarettes, based on official government data on legal production and cigarette consumption with an "extraofficial estimate" furnished by the industry. The study also used official national data on monthly income from work. The Brazilian population's "purchasing capacity for legal cigarettes" increased systematically from 2016 to 2019, from 412 packs/month to 460 packs/month. The absolute difference between the estimate by the tobacco industry and the estimate based on official data on the volume of illegal cigarettes that were consumed increased over time, reaching +30.2 billion units in 2019. Meanwhile, legal cigarette consumption, calculated with official data, increased from 2016 through 2019 (+7.8 billion), while the industry estimated a reduction in this consumption (-9.5 billion). Policymakers should seek to base their decisions on estimates generated from official data sources, including macroeconomic data on employment and income, rather than to use estimates produced by the tobacco industry that aim to interfere in public policies.