Editor’s Note: The following translation from the Portuguese is via Google Translate. The original may be found here, Princípio da insignificância não se aplica aos casos de contrabando de cigarros.
From: the Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region
In analyzing the case, the rapporteur, federal Judge Olindo Menezes, understood that the principle of insignificance should not in principle be applied to cigarette smuggling. The judge cited case law of the Supreme Court (STF), according to which: “In the case of cigarettes imported goods with tax avoidance, there is not only an injury to the public treasury and tax collection activities of the state but to other public interests such as health and domestic industrial activity, setting up smuggling, not embezzlement, “(HC 100 367, Rapporteur (a): Min LUIZ FUX, First Class, judged on 09/08/2011, DJE-172, public 08… -09-2011).
