Asked by: Lord Rennard (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to ratify the WHO protocol on the illicit trade in tobacco.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government is fully committed to implementation and ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Illicit Trade Protocol. The majority of the requirements of the Protocol are already in place in the UK. HM Revenue and Customs has recently consulted on the implementation of Article 6 of the Protocol, which includes the requirement to license tobacco manufacturing machinery. The Government will ratify the Protocol once we are satisfied that the legislation is in place to meet this requirement.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current estimate of the loss of tax revenue each year owing to tobacco smuggling.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The 2014/15 tax revenue loss associated with illicit tobacco, including both cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco, is estimated to be £2.1 billion.
Estimates of UK tax revenue losses are published every year. The latest estimates, for the years 2006/7 to 2014/15, are published in ‘Tobacco Tax Gap estimates 2014-15’.