ATHENS: Greece’s State Minister Panagiotis Nikoloudis presented on Thursday the government’s draft legislation to suppress the cigarette and tobacco “black market.”
The law introduces production line inspection, as well as packaging, trade, distribution and retail sales, with the proposition to prevent illegal trade and tax theft, while “cleaning up” the sector for the benefit of honest traders, who will regain their competitive advantage.
Nikoloudis said in a press conference that the new control systems will be an electronic tax and security band that will contain all the information concerning the product, including its quality, provenance and route before it reaches the market, and all this information will also be available on the database of Greece’s Finance Ministry.
