Stop Contrabanda: 21st of April – National Day against Illicit Trafficking
About 32 billion lei loss in 11 years for the state budget of Romania because of tobacco smuggling

The continuous efforts of the authorities to stop illegal activities at the country's borders led, in 2022, to a historical minimum of the last 15 years of the annual level of the cigarettes black market in Romania - of 7.1% versus the maximum level of 27% registered in 2010. But the figures have been increasing since the beginning of this year: in January 2023, the black market amounted to 8,1% of the total consumption, compared to 6.8% in November 2022, thus registering the highest level in the last two years, according to Novel Research.

Romania has the second largest EU external border, after Finland and registers the highest smuggling level in Eastern Europe, with a level of prejudice to the state budget amounting to approximately 2 billion lei in 2022** and a total of 32 billion lei loss, as direct impact of cigarette smuggling in the last decade (the equivalent of about 500 km of highway***).

March 2023 marks a record in terms of total volume of illegal cigarettes seized by the authorities in recent years. Almost 14.5 million cigarettes worth approximately 9.5 million lei were seized only this March (25 times more than in March 2022, when almost 580,000 cigarettes were seized), representing at the same time, almost half of the total number of cigarettes seized in the entire first quarter of this year. Since the beginning of the year, 13.2 million contraband cigarettes were seized in Dolj County, representing approximately 42% of the total amount captured in the entire country in the first 3 months of the year.

Brasov, with 3.8 million illegal cigarettes seized, ranks 2nd in the total weight of seizures since the beginning of the year, while Suceava, Maramures and Teleorman are placed on the 3rd place, with seizures of approximately 2, 5 million cigarettes registered in each of these counties, according to data centralized on StopContrabanda.ro.

Amid consistent actions of the authorities to stop the smuggling phenomenon at the country's borders, tobacco products counterfeiting in factories and various other illegal processing locations continue to grow. Several clandestine processing networks have been discovered since the beginning of the year, including an illegal cigarette factory in Falticeni, in February, and approximately 10 tons of tobacco in various forms (tobacco leaves, chopped tobacco, loose tobacco), intended for clandestine processing and bulk sales, predominantly in online environments.

Significant seizures of loose or unprocessed tobacco were recorded in Bucharest and nearby counties (Popesti Leordeni, Prahova, Ilfov, etc.), given that most of the tobacco trucks manage to enter Romania at the Southern borders of the country, and also in the Southern area, smuggling networks have access to a market with increased demand for bulk tobacco (Bucharest area), as well as to the infrastructure necessary for distribution (easy transport through courier companies, following online advertising).

In 2022, 1 in 4 illegal cigarettes consumed by Romanians was counterfeit*, representing the highest level of counterfeit cigarettes on the illicit market in the last 10 years. Of the total quantities captured by the authorities in 2022, about a quarter were identified as counterfeit, the most important captures of such products being made in Constanta, Valcea and Giurgiu.

Data on the evolution of cigarette seizures in Romania are centralized in real time on www.stopcontrabanda.ro platform, a BAT initiative that aims to support the authorities by centralizing information on contraband seizures across the country, but also to inform consumers about to the effects of cigarette smuggling on society. The campaign is carried out in partnership with the Romanian Police, the Romanian Border Police, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) and the Romanian Customs Authority. The "Stop Smuggling" campaign was launched in the Spring of 2017 by BAT to create a unique information point on cigarette smuggling.

* More than 21.8% of cigarettes found at consumers at the time of the Novel Research 2022 interviews were counterfeit, thus recording the highest level of counterfeit cigarettes in the illicit market in the last 10 years.
** According to industry data
*** 13.5 million EUR = average cost of one km of highway , according to recent public estimates (5 mil. lowland area, 8 mil. hill area, 28 mil. mountain area).
**** Illicit tobacco trade: over half billion cigarettes seized in 2022, https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/media-corner/news/illicit-tobacco-trade-over-half-billion-cigarettes-seized-2022-2023-04-04_en

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 50,000 people. The BAT Group generated revenue of £27.65 billion in 2022 and profit from operations of £10.5 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 2022, we had 22.5 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 4.2 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.