Cigarettes sold here must bear new mark by March

[BuiKia]

I think they are just trying to let the printer make money by printing all these.

IT WILL be easier for Singapore Customs officers to spot a contraband cigarette from next March.

The agency has set this deadline for when all cigarettes sold here must bear a revised identification mark.

Currently, the letters "SDPC", which stand for Singapore Duty- Paid Cigarette, are printed on cigarettes. The new mark will add a series of evenly spaced vertical bars below the "SDPC". This will make it easier for enforcement officers to detect contraband cigarettes as there will be a more visible difference between duty-paid ones and illicit ones, said a Singapore Customs spokesman yesterday.

The agency hopes to better curb the peddling, buying and possession of contraband cigarettes, added the spokesman.

Cigarettes with the new mark will go on sale from tomorrow to give manufacturers and retailers time to phase in the change.

But from March 1, all cigarettes without the new mark will be deemed illegal and duty-unpaid.

Singapore Customs also reminded travellers entering Singapore with cigarettes from overseas for their own consumption to declare them at the Customs Red Channel and pay duty and the goods and services tax.

They should keep the receipt issued by Singapore Customs as proof of payment, it added.

Offenders who buy, sell, deliver, possess or deal with duty-unpaid goods can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded, jailed for up to six years, or both.

First-time offenders of tobacco-related offences will be fined at least $2,000 and repeat offenders $4,000. Repeat offenders with over 2kg of tobacco products face a mandatory jail sentence.

Last year, Singapore Customs seized 1.9 million packs of contraband cigarettes - a five-year low.

However, the Tobacco Association of Singapore has noticed a "visible increase" in illicit cigarettes this year, said a spokesman.

It welcomed the new mark that makes it more difficult and costly for smugglers to copy the SDPC marking.

"Along with greater street- level enforcement, it will help to deter instances of illicit cigarettes," said the spokesman.