Smuggling of excise goods should be subject to criminal liability with confiscation of property, – Moskal

The head of Transcarpathia Hennadiy Moskal believes that criminal penalties for smuggling of excise goods need to be restored.

– Portnov and Kaletnyk decriminalized smuggling at the time of Yanukovych with only one purpose – to lead it, – H. Moskal said. – The administrative responsibility only encourages trafficking of goods across the border, Ukraine actually feeds transnational crime groups that have sprung up around this profitable "business."

In neighboring Romania, criminal liability is provided for smuggling just one pack of cigarettes, in Hungary – for smuggling of cigarettes worth more than 100 thousand forints (the cost of about 15 cartons of cigarettes), and in Slovakia – for more than 8 cartons of cigarettes. But in Ukraine, only administrative responsibility is provided for illegal cross-border transportation of goods, including excisable ones. Here is an example – in Transcarpathia, in Tyachiv district (bordering Romania), there is a smuggler that has been brought to administrative responsiblity for cigarette smuggling 163 times.

This fact is a mockery of the helplessness of the state. I will personally prepare a draft law on restoring criminal liability for smuggling of excisable goods and ask several deputies from different factions to register it in the Parliament. As for tobacco product, I suggest:

– to establish criminal liability with confiscation of personal property for smuggling of cigarettes across green border (including that using means of transport, technical means or aircrafts), regardless of the amount. 

– to establish administrative responsibility for smuggling of up to 20 cartons of cigarettes through checkpoints, and the criminal liability with confiscation of all personal property – for smuggling of more than 20 cartons of cigarettes.