Producers and importers of spirits in Romania ask for the adoption of a calendar for the gradual increase of the excise duty on alcohol, which would replace the mechanism of updating with inflation, otherwise "catastrophic consequences" could be generated for local spirits producers, with the loss of thousands of jobs.
According to them, other particularly serious social effects could be determined by the incrase in interest in counterfeit drinks.
"Producers and importers of spirits in Romania are not asking for a favourable regime, but only for a fair approach, which protects local producers and the Romanian consumer of spirits. We cannot talk about fiscal predictability only for a part of the economic actors in a field, taking into account the economic contribution and social impact of our industry. The modification of the excise duty system for beverages must be done in a unitary way and not by favouring one industry or another," reads an open letter addressed to prime minister Marcel Ciolacu and to the minister of finance, Marcel Bolos, by Spirits Romania, an employer's association that brings together the main producers and importers of spirits in Romania.
According to this letter sent to AGERPRES on Monday, Spirits Romania draws attention to the fact that updating the value of the excise duty for ethyl alcohol with inflation could lead to an increase of more than 50% in 2025, if the current provisions of the Fiscal Code are maintained.
According to the same source, the spirits industry numbers more than 46,000 jobs, direct and indirect, and contributes annually with an added value of more than 850 million euros to the Gross Domestic Product. Although consumption remained constant or decreased, the value of the excise duty increased constantly and significantly in recent years, and the mechanism for updating with inflation remained with the basis of calculation at the level of 2014, despite the fact that the value subject to updating was increased by several times.
In this context, Spirits Romania emphasises that the shock of a new significant increase in the excise duty will have a catastrophic impact on local spirits producers and would most likely lead to the loss of several thousand jobs. In addition, the increase in the price of cheap drinks, produced in an overwhelming majority by Romanian producers, will lead to the growth of the black market, untaxed, with direct effects on the revenues of the state budget.
Spirits Romania is an employers' association that brings together the main producers and importers of spirits from Romania: BDG, Brown-Forman, Diageo, Pernod Ricard Romania, Prodal, Prodvinalco, PPD.