The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has called on the Government to scrap its proposed tobacco licensing scheme for England.
Responding to consultation for the scheme it urged that targeted measures to reduce the illicit tobacco trade should be adopted instead.
In the submission, ACS has called for trading standards officers to have more powers to tackle the illicit trade at a local level.
Research conducted by the Trading Standards Institute has shown that while almost all trading standards officers’ work includes tackling the illicit tobacco trade, the most common action taken against those selling illicit tobacco was giving verbal or written warnings rather than the fines and banning orders that can be used as penalties.
The illicit tobacco trade cost the Exchequer £2.1bn in 2013/14 in lost revenue. For the alcohol market, where a licensing scheme has been in place for several years, the loss to the Exchequer through the illicit trade has grown from £830m in 2008/9 to £1.2bn in 2013/14.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We do not believe that tobacco licensing is an effective deterrent to the illicit trade and instead serves only to impose financial and administrative burdens on retailers.
“We are calling for trading standards officers to be given more powers to deal with those who supply and sell illicit tobacco at a local level. Current sanctioning powers are too focused on seizures at our borders and do not address the problems that responsible retailers face from unscrupulous competitors in communities across the country.”
In Scotland, where a tobacco licensing scheme has been in place for three years, only five retailers have been removed from the register. The scheme is estimated to have cost around £450,000 to set up, equating to around £89,900 for every retailer removed from the register.
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