DoF: China to probe cigarette machines

CHINESE customs officials will look into the unauthorized export of cigarette-making machines to the Philippines that originated from China, the Department of Finance (DoF) said on Monday.

In a statement, the Finance department quoted Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero as saying in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd that Manila had reiterated its concern over the export of these machines to the Chinese vice minister of the General Administration of Customs of China on the sidelines of the 28th Asean Customs Directors-General Meeting in Laos.

“I asked them if they could stop such exportations on their part, because this is creating problems, as far [as] we’re concerned,” Guerrero said.

Chinese customs officials agreed “to look into the matter,” he added.

Dominguez earlier ordered the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to work closely with their Chinese counterparts in stopping these machines from entering the country illegally.

This came after BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay reported that the illegal tobacco trade has shifted from smuggling cigarettes to producing locally counterfeit brands using these machines.

Based on earlier BIR raids, counterfeiters were able to manufacture fake versions of popular brands using smaller and more portable versions of the machines, the Finance department said.

On May 29, the BIR Strike Team tasked to crack down on the illicit tobacco trade conducted an inventory of machines, finished goods, raw materials and counterfeit tax stamps seized by the National Bureau of Investigation at a factory in Marilao town, Bulacan province.

“Erring traders have apparently switched to manufacturing their own counterfeit cigarettes in lieu of smuggling legitimate products following the heightened joint BIR-BoC drive against suppliers of tobacco products with fake tax stamps, which was in compliance with Dominguez’s earlier orders,” the DoF said.

The department chief underscored the need for heightened government vigilance against the unlawful production and sale of tobacco items, given that the increase in excise tax rates of tobacco products has incentivized illegal traders to increasingly resort to smuggling and tax evasion, it added.

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