From: HM Revenue & Customs
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Government Response
Sales of illicit tobacco through legitimate retailers represent only a proportion of total illicit sales and most retailers are fully compliant with the law in this area. Therefore, it is difficult to make a strong case for retailer licensing for anti-illicit purposes only. Retailers that choose to sell illicit tobacco do so knowingly and so breaching the terms of a licence is unlikely to have a significant impact on behaviours. HMRC already has and applies a number of sanctions against retailers found selling illicit tobacco, including financial penalties and removal of alcohol licences. The costs of a national HMRC administered licensing scheme aimed at tackling the illicit trade, particularly the positive licensing scheme advocated by many respondents from the health promotion and local authority sectors, appear to be disproportionate to the additional benefits which would accrue. It would also be burdensome for those businesses already registered under the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish health schemes to require them to apply for a second national registration for the sale of tobacco products. Some interesting suggestions were made about combining enforcement activities for different aspects of tobacco control and funding options for this work, and the government will continue to consider these. The forthcoming track and trace requirements are also likely to add additional supply chain controls and some form of registration for at least part of the tobacco supply chain. The government does not consider that the case has been made for an additional tobacco supply-chain licensing system aimed specifically at reducing the illicit trade.
