A working group has been formed that will determine the best model for storing confiscated tobacco products in accordance with the law, the Revenue and Customs Administration (UPC) announced today.
The UPC said that on January 1, 2022, 13 companies had cigarettes and other tobacco products in stock on the day of entry into force of the Decision on the ban on the storage of tobacco products in the territory of the "Luka Bar" Free Zone.
"According to Article 1 paragraph 3 of the Decision, the customs authority was obliged to pass a decision in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 172 of the Customs Law within 3 days from the date of entry into force of this decision, which prohibits the performance of the activity of storing tobacco products and abolishes or amends approvals issued for keeping records for the storage of tobacco products in the "Luka Bar" Free Zone. In order to apply the provisions of Article 172 paragraph 3 of the Customs Law, the Revenue and Customs Administration supplemented the decision on the start of operation of the "Luka Bar" Free Zone, which prohibited the placement for the purpose of storing tobacco products in the territory of the "Luka Bar" Free Zone. Based on the Decision and Resolution of the Revenue and Customs Administration, ex officio, the resolutions approving the keeping of records in the zone for users who performed the activity of storing tobacco products were canceled, while the resolutions for users were amended which, in addition to storing tobacco products, also store other goods or perform other activities. In the solutions, deadlines are set for all holders of tobacco products to ship them from the Luka Bar Free Zone," the UPC statement points out.
The institution stated that the deadlines were set taking into account the amount of tobacco products that were in stock.
"The deadline for the last user to take goods out of the Free Zone expired on May 05.05.2022, 24, except for 10 containers located at the container terminal in the Port of Bar, for which there is an announcement that they will be taken out of the Free Zone in the next XNUMX days in accordance with procedure", says the UPC announcement.
They stated that on 5/5.2022/XNUMX. year, the following companies had tobacco products in stock:
1. "ATLANT MONT" Seychelles Islands
2. "MPS GROUP" Podgorica
3. “OMNI MAXTRADE LTD” Seychelles
4. “NEWORLD OVERSEAS LIMITED” Cyprus
5. “NRT PARTNERS LTD” Seychelles
6. "LENORA INTERNATIONAL" USA
7. "Montenegro Duvan Comerc" Mojkovac
8. "WEST POINT" Podgorica
9. “SACE LTD” Delaware-USA
10. "RIPSPED" Bar
"The Revenue and Customs Administration does not have information on how much people who were users of the Free Zone paid for the storage of cigarettes. When confiscating stored tobacco products, no person was deprived of their liberty. Pursuant to Article 292 of the Customs Law, goods that comply with this law confiscated, i.e. goods for which exposure to public sale is prescribed according to the provisions of this law, will be sold. Furthermore, Article 293 of the Customs Law stipulates that the Customs Office sells confiscated goods by exposing them to public sale, while acting in accordance with the regulations. If it is a matter of goods that cannot be sold, i.e. used due to health, veterinary, phytopathological, safety or other reasons prescribed by this law, these goods are destroyed under customs control and supervision, in accordance with the relevant regulations. Said goods are subject to health and sanitary control in accordance with customs regulations," they said. are from UPC.
The announcement also states that "given that the deadlines for companies, former users of the Luka Bar Free Zone, in which they were required to take actions for the purpose of approving customs-permitted handling or use of goods and shipping goods abroad, have expired, they are no longer under customs supervision." .
"A working group has been formed that will determine the best model for storing seized tobacco products in accordance with the law. Until the status of these goods is regulated, they will be placed in a location under customs supervision, in order to prevent the possibility of theft It is known to the public that thefts happened several times in the previous period," said the UPC.
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The UPC also said that the collection of excise duties in the period from January 1 to May 16, 2022, amounts to 95,2 million euros, which, they added, is 27 percent more compared to the same period of the previous year.
"There was a significant increase in revenue from excise taxes on tobacco products of 87 percent or 13 million euros more, compared to the same period last year, which speaks in favor of the fact that the activities carried out by the Government of Montenegro, the relevant Ministry and the Directorate of Revenue and Customs in the fight against the smuggling of cigars, give the expected results", the UPC statement concludes.
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