From: European Parliament
Cigarette smuggling is on the rise too, most likely due to high profits and low penalties–compared to drug trafficking, for example. It involves both counterfeit and contraband cigarettes (with 65% of seized cigarettes being counterfeit). Smuggled cigarettes are produced both outside (mainly former Soviet Union countries and China) and within the EU (including Poland and some Baltic States). As a result, Member States lose an estimated €10 billion revenue per year, of which about 10% is a loss to the EU budget.
