From: Manila Standard Today
By Jennifer Ambanta
Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. said Sunday it will stop exporting cigarettes to at least two countries, with the impending implementation of the cigarette tax stamp system.
PMFTC president Paul Riley said exports to Korea and Pakistan from the Philippines would be stopped, because of the tax stamp and graphic health warnings on packages.
“One of the problems now with the exports is that when you export to a country that does not have tax stamps in that country, you have to apply the Philippine tax stamp. That’s problematic,” Riley said.
“We export to Korea. We export to Pakistan. Those exports will have to stop because we will put the Filipino tax stamp with a health warning. In Pakistan, they are not going to accept that,” he said.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue earlier said the implementation of tax stamp system on cigarettes would also cover tobacco products for the export markets. It said cigarette manufacturers would be required to affix the Philippine government’s tax stamp, if the product’s final destination had no security stamp system yet.
The agency said the tax stamp system aimed to stop smuggling of tobacco products.
