As of 11 September 2005, the government’s decree on mandatory licensing of excise stamps importation comes into force, meaning new difficulties for cigarette exports from Russia, writes the Russian daily newspaper Business.

Excise stamps are now subject to regulations valid with regard to securities. The decree was issued two months ago, but due to lack of detailed regulations and instructions, not a single one of the tobacco companies operating in Russia has received the necessary license so far. Several major tobacco makers have already announced plans to move manufacturing of the exported brands to other facilities, especially that most multinationals present on the Russian market also run cigarette making plants in the neighbouring countries. According to Vladimir Aksyonov, director for corporate relations, BAT Russia, this is not the first problem facing cigarette exporters. In theory, Russian tax authorities are obliged to refund the VAT that has been paid at the moment of shipping cigarettes from the factory in case they are meant for export, but this is almost impossible in actual practice. At the same time, the yearly volume of cigarette export from Russia is likely to reach 5 billion cigarettes by the end of this year, mainly to CIS countries. (vt)