Market & legal data of the tobacco alternative sector in Russia

20th December 2024: Russia: According to the tax law amendment, heated tobacco consumables will be taxed at a rate of RUB9,807 (€90) per kg from 1st January 2025. Additionally, nicotine raw materials will be taxed at a rate of RUB2.20 (€0.02) per mg from 1st January 2025.
20th December 2024: Russia: From 1st January 2025, the minimum selling price for 1 g of heated tobacco will be RUB22 (€0.20).
13th December 2024: Russia: The State Duma (lower chamber of the parliament) deputies have prepared a bill banning the sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products at a distance of less than 100 m from the territory of university campuses, media reports. According to federal law 15, points-of-sale cannot be within 100 m of educational institutions. However, the deputies say there is a gap in the law that allows for the sale of tobacco products near university campuses, where the country’s youth actually live and study. The proposal has not been introduced to the parliament yet and has not been released to the public.
5th December 2024: Russia: The Ministry of Agriculture has calculated minimum prices for nicotine-containing products for 2025. From 1st January 2025, the minimum selling price will be increased for 1 g of heated tobacco from RUB21 (€0.19) to RUB22 (€0.20).
2nd December 2024: Russia: The State Duma chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, has said via his Telegram channel that the State Duma (lower chamber of parliament) has begun considering a proposal aimed at “protecting minors from the consumption of tobacco and nicotine-containing products”. He said that last year, 6,496 administrative cases were initiated on violations of the tobacco retail laws, which is 53.7% more than in 2022. He further stated that the proposed bill would significantly increase fines for the sale to minors of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, devices for their consumption or raw materials for their production. The bill would also introduce a criminal liability for repeated violations. The proposal has not been released to the public yet, but the Council of the State Duma has sent it to the regions so they can provide feedback.
25th November 2024: Russia: The director of the Department for the Development of Domestic Trade of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Nikita Kuznetsov, said that a register of tobacco retailers could be introduced in Russia, media reports. He said that such an idea is currently being discussed in the government and he believes that this will help to control the number of tobacco and nicotine-containing product retailers and prevent illegal trade.
12th November 2024: Russia: The Government Legislative Commission supports bill 650932-8 that would block information on the online retail sale of tobacco- and nicotine-containing products in Russia. The bill was submitted to the State Duma (a lower chamber of parliament) in June and is now awaiting its first reading. Online sales of these products are prohibited by federal law; however, lawmakers say information on remote sale is still easily found. If adopted, social networks will have to prevent the distribution of information on their platforms that contains offers to sell such products, and the information itself will be entered into the Unified Register of information prohibited in Russia, which is maintained by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
25th October 2024: Russia: The Ministry of Health supports a bill that seeks to ban the sale of tobacco- and nicotine-containing products and devices for their consumption to anyone born on or after 1st January 2010. The bill has been developed by State Duma (lower chamber of the parliament) deputies from the small faction “New People”. The ministry said the bill corresponds to the fundamentals of the state policy Tobacco Control Plan 2035, which plans to reduce the consumption of these products by 2035. The Ministry of Finance did not support the bill. It pointed out that the bill contradicted the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which a citizen from the age of 18 is not limited in rights and freedoms. The Federal Service for Alcohol and Tobacco Market Regulation (Rosalkogoltabakkontrol) did not support the bill either. It said it would lead to an increase in the consumption of illegal products and, accordingly, the growth of the black market in tobacco.
3rd October 2024: Russia: The bill amending the law “on the protection of citizens’ health from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, the consequences of tobacco consumption or the consumption of nicotine-containing products”, which seeks to ban the sale of tobacco- and nicotine-containing products and devices for their consumption to anyone born on or after 1st January 2010 has been developed by State Duma (lower chamber of the parliament) deputies from the New People faction, media reports. New People is a small faction that is against several policies of the current government but has a neutral to somewhat supportive position towards president Vladimir Putin.
12th September 2024: Commonwealth of Independent States: The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, an intergovernmental organisation in Eurasia, consisting of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) has finished creating an action plan for all member states to prevent the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine products on public health, media reports. Representatives from several member states have participated in a videoconference to discuss and make final edits to the plan. After the meeting, it was decided to get the plan approved domestically and then submit it to the CIS Council of Heads of Government for further review.
12th August 2024: EAEU: The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) – the executive body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – has told TobaccoIntelligence that the revised draft of the technical regulation for nicotine-containing products was recently reviewed at a meeting of the working group held on 16th July. At the meeting, it was decided to conduct a metrological expertise and regulatory impact assessments of the regulation. The EEC also said the draft regulation will have to undergo the internal approval process and further consideration at the meetings of the EEC and the EEC Council. The draft would provide the common product, notification and labelling requirements for vaping products and heated tobacco for all EAEU member states. However, considering the recent ban on vaping products in Kazakhstan, we understand the standard rules, if adopted, would not apply in Kazakhstan in relation to vaping products.
30th July 2024: Russia: Igor Alyoshin, head of the Federal Service for Alcohol and Tobacco Market Regulation, said the agency is considering the possibility of licensing the retail sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products by analogy with the sale of alcohol products. Currently, it is assumed that regional authorities will be responsible for issuing the retail licences. From 1st March, the production, storage, import and export of tobacco and nicotine-containing products must be licensed in accordance with federal law 203. However, retailers are not obliged to license these products. Alyoshin also noted that this initiative will provide additional revenues to the budget and immediately reduce the share of illegal tobacco and nicotine-containing products on the market.

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