Cigarettes in Cyprus could cost up to €6.50 a packet under EU tax plan

The price of a standard pack of cigarettes in Cyprus could rise to between €6 and €6.50 if the EU goes ahead with a planned overhaul of tobacco taxation, customs department spokesman Giorgos Constantinou said on Tuesday. Speaking to Politis radio, Constantinou said that no agreement has yet been reached at European level and that any increases would be introduced gradually. Cigarettes at present cost between €4 to €4.50 for a pack in Cyprus. Talks among EU finance ministers at Ecofin have produced no deal, Constantinou said, but a rise in excise duty on tobacco products remains on the table. Asked how large the increases might be, he said that without an agreement the new rates and final prices cannot be set with certainty. His estimate was based on the discussions so far, and he ruled out far steeper rises. “We are not going to see prices of €10 or €13,” he said, stressing that Cyprus had sought to limit the size of any increase. Transitional periods would be provided so the financial burden on consumers is spread over time, and similar increases are expected to be considered for other tobacco products. Cyprus tobacco excise rates were last revised in 2011, and the island applies some of the lowest rates permitted in the EU. Constantinou gave three reasons for the EU review, the first being public health, with the World Health Organisation pressing for higher prices to reduce consumption due to deaths caused by smoking. The second is the wide gap in taxation between member states, with some countries imposing duties so high that cigarettes cost several times what they do in Cyprus. The third is the arrival of new products, which the current rules do not properly cover. These include nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes that use vaping liquids. He pointed to work done during the Cyprus EU council presidency, although no final agreement was reached, all 27 member states agreed that transitional periods should be included, meaning increases would be phased in rather than applied at once. Cyprus also worked to keep the proposed rises in the minimum tax rates as low as possible, he said. Proposals put forward during the talks could have led to much larger increases, bringing prices close to those in some other European countries. Constantinou said the aim of tax policy is to reduce the consumption of tobacco products, and expressed hope that measures to support people’s finances would also be introduced.