A customer in a store selling cigarettes and tobacco, April 19, 2024 in Les, Spain (AFP/Matthieu RONDEL)
“I save 2,000 euros per year”, specifies satisfied Fanny Billot, who came to buy cigarettes at a lower price in Spain, in Les, a village in Val d’Aran close to the border, the regulations now allowing a larger quantity of cigarettes to be brought back. tobacco from an EU country.
This 31-year-old mother and her partner traveled an hour and a half from the area around Tarbes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, and left with their arms full: cartons of cigarettes, pots of rolling tobacco and a stock of lighters.
“In France the packages are 12 euros, here they are five,” argues Fanny Billot who, by getting supplies from the Spanish side, intends to save “enough to pay for a week’s family vacation all year long.”
“Out of the question” therefore for her to go to French tobacconists.
Until March 29, adult individuals traveling to a European Union (EU) country were authorized to bring back 200 cigarettes (one carton), 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars and 250 grams of smoking tobacco.
In accordance with European law, France has, since March 29, removed this limit. From now on, customs can consider that it is no longer personal consumption if the quantity exceeds 800 cigarettes (four cartridges), 400 cigarillos, 200 cigars and one kg of smoking tobacco.
– Savings, without fear –
For the boss of a tobacco shop in Les, these new rules have changed the behavior of customers from France.
“People are no longer afraid. Before, some exceeded the limits imposed and were worried by the controls. Now they are more serene,” explains this man on condition of anonymity.
A man carries packets of tobacco purchased in a shop in Les, Spain, April 19, 2024 (AFP/Matthieu RONDEL)
“Some customers came several times and only bought one cartridge. Now they buy in volume,” he continues.
A box of cigarette cartons in her arms, Aurélie, originally from Tarbes, leaves another tobacco shop in Les, with a smile on her face.
She says she is “very happy that it has gone to four cartridges” because it allows her to “save the return trips”.
“I will no longer go to French tobacco shops at all, unless I have no other choice,” says the young woman.
Eight kilometers from the border, on the French side, in Bagnères-de-Luchon (Haute-Garonne), Annie Vigo, a tobacconist for 29 years, is fuming.
Making “less figures” over the years and the gradual increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes in France, she is angry with the new regulations.
– Risk of more contraband –
“They want the death of French tobacconists. We are raising prices so that people don’t smoke, but they can buy cheaper and in volume ten kilometers away,” protests this 59-year-old trader.
Tobacco shops in Les, Spain, April 19, 2024 (AFP/Matthieu RONDEL)
The new rule “will cause more smuggling. We sell the package for 12 euros, on the other side of the border it costs five. This could be profitable for some,” she adds.
Same observation for Frédéric Pailhe, president of the Federation of tobacconists of Occitanie, who participated in a filtering operation since the entry into force of the new standard: he counted “38 people who brought back much more than four cartridges, in full week”.
This representative of the profession, who saw the number of French tobacconists drop “from 34,000 in the 2000s to 22,500 today”, due to the increase in prices, is worried about “the enormous loss” caused by the new regulations.
“We already have a drop in volume and inevitably the State will also lose a lot (in terms of tobacco taxes, editor’s note). It’s counterproductive,” he believes.
© 2024 AFP
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