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500 km of Romanian border under video surveillance with special cameras

19 October 2022

BAT Romania donates 300 new special surveillance cameras to the Romanian Border Police
The 300 surveillance cameras are added to the 250 donated last year by BAT
500 km of the border are now monitored with the cameras donated by BAT in the last two years
In the first nine months of 2022, Romanian authorities confiscated over 61 million contraband cigarettes, with a total value of over 39 million lei on the black market.
BAT's objective is to build A Better Tomorrow™, which implies supporting the efforts against illicit traffic activities.

Bucharest, October 19th, 2022 – In a joint effort to combat illicit traffic, BAT Romania donates 300 new special surveillance cameras to the Romanian Border Police. These are added to the 250 surveillance cameras donated last year, thus completing the surveillance equipment used for hard-to-reach areas.

Romania shares over 2,000 km of border with non – EU countries, with important segments transiting mountainous and forest areas, where border surveillance is difficult. With the help of the surveillance cameras donated in the last two years by BAT, more than 500 km of the border subject to continuous fraudulent crossing attempts with significant quantities of cigarettes will be more easily monitored.

In the first 9 months of 2022, Romanian authorities seized over 60 million cigarettes, with a black market value of over 38.5 million lei (over 7 million euros), according to www.stopcontrabanda.ro data, the only real-time centralizer of the contraband cigarettes seizures in Romania.

"The descending evolution of the illicit cigarettes market over the last three years, with a historical minimum level of 6.1% recorded in July 2022, highlights that things can change for the better through sustained and joint efforts of the authorities in partnership with the business environment. The 550 special surveillance cameras donated by BAT contribute to strengthening authorities` capacity in combating illegal traffic and, hopefully, to maintaining this positive trend in the future", said Ileana Dumitru, Legal and Public Relations Director of the Central South Europe Area at BAT.

According to Stop Contrabanda platform, more than a third of the contraband cigarettes seizures in the first nine months of 2022 (23 million cigarettes) were made at the North-Eastern and North-Western borders of Romania, with Ukraine and Moldova being the sources for several types of cigarettes present in the Romanian illicit market, especially the counterfeit cigarrets or those destined for duty free shops.

„The decrease in the level of illicit cigarette smuggling in recent times is based on measures to strengthen the surveillance of the country's external borders, both with human resources and specialized equipment following the conflict in Ukraine. In this context, I welcome the collaboration with BAT, which supports this effort of the Border Police to secure the borders, including by donating surveillance cameras for the second consecutive year. It is a joint benefit that serves the interest of citizens and demonstrates that the partnership between the authorities and the private sector is a viable and timely one”, said Victor - Stefan Ivascu, the Inspector General of the Romanian Border Police.

Real – time data on the evolution of cigarette seizures on the territory of Romania can be consulted on www.stopcontrabanda.ro platform, the only real-time centralizer of cigarette seizures on the territory of Romania. The platform is a support tool for the authorities, as well as a resourceful information source for consumers regarding the effects of cigarette smuggling on the society.

About BAT in Romania

BAT has been present on the Romanian market for 25 years. BAT`s impact on the Romanian economy during this period is 125 billion euros* (*According to the analysis carried out by the independent consulting and market research group CIVITTA)
In the context of decreasing the level of cigarette smuggling level, in 2021 BAT had a total contribution to the state budget of about 11 billion lei (2.2 billion euros) in the form of taxes and excises, a 10% increase compared to 2020.
BAT is the leader of the tobacco market in Romania, with over 50% share and the largest contributor to the state budget for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021).
BAT has over 3,000 employees and creates another 30,000 jobs through its distribution and supply chain.

About BAT

BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a purpose to build A Better Tomorrow™ by reducing the health impact of its business through offering a greater choice of enjoyable and less risky products for adult consumers.

The company continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives*†. In order to deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric multi-category consumer products business.

BAT’s ambition is to have 50 million consumers of its non-combustible products by 2030 and to generate £5billion of New Categories revenue by 2025. BAT has set stretching ESG targets including achieving carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 & 2 by 2030 and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic and making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

BAT employs over 52,000 people and operates in over 175 countries. The BAT Group generated revenue of £12.87 billion in the first half of 2022 and profit from operations of £3.68 billion.

The company’s Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-risk*† New Category tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non-combustible tobacco products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products, modern oral products including tobacco-free nicotine pouches, as well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In the first half of 2022, we had 20.4 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 2.1 million on full year 2021.

*Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive.