Smuggling of alcohol will be equated with smuggling of especially valuable plants and mushrooms
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The government proposes to toughen responsibility for the illegal import of tobacco and alcohol from the countries of the Eurasian Union
The government wants to fight the illegal import of alcohol and tobacco products into Russia with criminal cases. A draft law is ready for submission to the State Duma, which will equate the smuggling of alcohol and cigarettes from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union to smuggling from other countries, and illegal importation in the amount of more than 100 thousand rubles will be considered a crime. But for the smuggling of cultural property and especially valuable animals and fish, it is proposed to punish softer than now.
On September 4, the government commission on legislative work approved the initiative, on which the Ministry of Finance has been working since 2021 (available to MK). It is needed for “a comprehensive settlement of some issues related to the application of criminal liability for the illegal movement of goods across the state border of the Eurasian Economic Union and the state border of the Russian Federation,” according to the financial department.
Recall: the Eurasian Economic Union unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. What exactly are “certain issues” that the government considers not fully resolved?
One of them is the “legal gap”, which consists in the absence of criminal liability for the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco products into Russia through sections of the borders between the Russian Federation and other member states of the Union. True, the statistics given in the explanatory note to the bill are for some reason exclusively “tobacco”. According to the Accounts Chamber, the share of illegal cigarettes increased from 1.1% to 10.7% from 2016 to 2021, and according to “one of the analytical agencies”, at the end of 2022 it was already 12.9% (more than 1 .4 billion packs). In the past two years, more than half of them (“according to a number of expert estimates”, in 2022 – more than 57%) came to Russia precisely from the countries of the Eurasian Union. The minimum total losses of the federal budget (smugglers do not pay excise taxes, VAT too), “according to expert estimates”, exceed 121 billion rubles a year, of which about 70 billion rubles are accounted for by smuggling from the EAEU countries. As excise taxes on tobacco and liquor in Russia rise from year to year, the government predicts a further increase in smuggling – simply because it is becoming more profitable …
What is proposed as adequate countermeasures?
As usual, the Criminal Code. The current article 200.2 of the Criminal Code punishes for the illegal import of tobacco and alcohol products worth more than 250 thousand rubles across the border of the Customs Union of the EAEU countries – but does not punish for smuggling from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus or Kyrgyzstan to Russia. The punishment here is from 300 thousand to 1 million rubles fine, the alternative is forced labor or up to five years in prison; if an organized group acted – from 7 to 12 years in prison with or without a fine of up to 2 million rubles. According to the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court, in 2021, 95 people were punished under Article 200.2 of the Criminal Code in the country, in 2022 – 105 people.
The government believes that this article of the Criminal Code should be repealed. And for the illegal import of cigarettes or alcohol, “taking into account the growing public danger of the above phenomenon and its negative impact on the economic security of the Russian Federation,” punish under another article of the Criminal Code – 226.1. Now it punishes those who smuggle across the customs borders of the Eurasian Union and across the borders between the countries of the Union and Russia on a large scale strong, poisonous, poisonous, explosives, nuclear materials, firearms and parts thereof, explosives, ammunition, military equipment , cultural values, especially valuable animals and fish – and also goods included in the list of strategic government decrees. In most cases, the cost of goods exceeding 1 million rubles is considered a large size here. Moreover, recognizing some product as strategic, the government has the right to set a lower threshold for it and consider smuggling worth more than 100 thousand rubles as a crime. This is exactly what it did in March 2022, adding both alcohol and tobacco to this list.
At the same time, the bill proposes to seriously rewrite the first part of Article 260.1. The smuggling of everything poisonous and military without aggravating circumstances is singled out in the bill as a separate offense – with a punishment of at least 3 to 7 years in prison with a fine of up to 1 million rubles or without it. But the smuggling of strategically important goods and resources, especially valuable wild animals and cultural values will be a crime of medium gravity, and punishable by a fine of 300 thousand rubles to 1 million rubles (an alternative is up to five years of forced labor or up to five years in a colony). The initiative instructs the customs authorities and the border service of the FSB to deal with such cases. It is necessary to separate cultural values, alcohol, tobacco and valuable animals and fish from weapons and explosives because the degree of public danger from the smuggling of these goods is different, according to the Cabinet of Ministers: one poses a threat to the life and health of the population, and the other does not, but the current version the first part of article 226.1 promises the same punishment for all this: up to 7 years in prison … By the way, under this article, from mid-October, they will also be punished for smuggling especially valuable plants and mushrooms (the corresponding law has already been adopted and signed by the president).
The Supreme Court, without which it is impossible to submit bills on amendments to the Criminal Code to the State Duma, did not object to the concept of the authors, making several comments on the terms used.
The initiative will be submitted to the State Duma after approval at a government meeting.
Newspaper headline:
Eurasian together, but tobacco apart
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