Vietnam doubles penalty for illicit tobacco trade

December 01, 2015 | 16:09

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Vietnam has just doubled penalty for illicit tobacco trade according to a decree recently issued by the prime minister.

According to Decree No.124/2015/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No.185/2013/ND-CP, doubled the fine applied to violations related to illicit tobacco trade. Specifically, those who trade illicit cigarettes will be subjected to a fine of VND500,000-1 million ($23-$47) for fewer than 10 packs of illicit cigarettes, VND1-2 million ($47-$94) for 10-20 packs, and up to VND50-70 million ($230-$330) for 400-500 packs.

For case of trading more than 500 packs of illicit cigarettes, it will be considered for criminal prosecution. If the prosecuting agency decides to have no criminal prosecution for the case, violator(s) shall be subjected to a fine of VND70 million-VND100 million ($330-$470).

Illicit cigarettes account for 20 per cent of the local market and 85 per cent of them are of the Jet and Hero brands. Jet and Hero contain chemical substances at unusually high levels, especially Coumarin, one of main substances in rat poison.

By By Khanh Tran

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