Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation

Serbia has rather high prevalence of smoking. According to the National Health Surveys, the prevalence of daily smoking among men in 2013 was 33 percent which was lower than in 2000 (41 percent), while among women it was almost as high as in 2000 (...

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Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/499321560881630381/Serbia-Overview-of-Tobacco-Use-Tobacco-Control-Legislation-and-Taxation
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31951
id okr-10986-31951
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-319512021-05-25T09:25:16Z Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation World Bank Group TOBACCO CONTROL TOBACCO CONSUMPTION TOBACCO TAX CIGARETTE PRICES CIGARETTE SMUGGLING TAX REVENUE Serbia has rather high prevalence of smoking. According to the National Health Surveys, the prevalence of daily smoking among men in 2013 was 33 percent which was lower than in 2000 (41 percent), while among women it was almost as high as in 2000 (26 percent). Cigarette smoking among adolescents aged 13-15 years old decreased in 2013-2017; however, the use of electronic cigarettes and waterpipe is growing among young people. To overcome the tobacco epidemic, Serbia became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on May 9, 2006, and implemented some tobacco control policies. Tobacco taxation policy in Serbia in 2009–2013 was very successful from a public health perspective as it reduced tobacco consumption, in line with the FCTC obligations. Estimated tobacco consumption in the country declined by 33 percent in four years. The outflow of cigarettes taxed in Serbia to other countries also declined, while the volume of cigarettes, which were smoked but not taxed in Serbia, did not change much after the tax increases. This taxation policy also increased the tobacco excise revenue from 39 billion RSD in 2008 to 84 billion RSD in 2013 (by 44 percent in real terms). However, the tobacco industry managed to modify the impact of the tobacco taxes. In 2012-early 2014, it vastly increased its (net-of-tax) part of cigarette price, and this reinforced the taxation impact on tobacco sales as the final retail price increased more than expected. As the growth of the industry profit margins was disproportionately soaring, the industry increased its profits despite the decline of tobacco sales. The main factor behind the cigarette sales reduction in 2012-2014 was the industry pricing tactics, while the excise rate increases were rather moderate. The combined effect of government taxes and industry prices substantially reduced cigarette affordability, and the resulting sales decline exceeded the excise burden growth; so, the government excise revenue decreased. In late 2014, the tobacco industry decreased prices for some brands, and it also contributed to the excise revenue decline in 2014, as ad valorem part of cigarette excise was rather high in Serbia. 2019-06-25T18:28:35Z 2019-06-25T18:28:35Z 2019-06-17 Brief http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/499321560881630381/Serbia-Overview-of-Tobacco-Use-Tobacco-Control-Legislation-and-Taxation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31951 English WBG Global Tobacco Control Program; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work :: Other Health Study Economic & Sector Work Europe and Central Asia Serbia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TOBACCO CONTROL
TOBACCO CONSUMPTION
TOBACCO TAX
CIGARETTE PRICES
CIGARETTE SMUGGLING
TAX REVENUE
spellingShingle TOBACCO CONTROL
TOBACCO CONSUMPTION
TOBACCO TAX
CIGARETTE PRICES
CIGARETTE SMUGGLING
TAX REVENUE
World Bank Group
Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Serbia
relation WBG Global Tobacco Control Program;
description Serbia has rather high prevalence of smoking. According to the National Health Surveys, the prevalence of daily smoking among men in 2013 was 33 percent which was lower than in 2000 (41 percent), while among women it was almost as high as in 2000 (26 percent). Cigarette smoking among adolescents aged 13-15 years old decreased in 2013-2017; however, the use of electronic cigarettes and waterpipe is growing among young people. To overcome the tobacco epidemic, Serbia became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on May 9, 2006, and implemented some tobacco control policies. Tobacco taxation policy in Serbia in 2009–2013 was very successful from a public health perspective as it reduced tobacco consumption, in line with the FCTC obligations. Estimated tobacco consumption in the country declined by 33 percent in four years. The outflow of cigarettes taxed in Serbia to other countries also declined, while the volume of cigarettes, which were smoked but not taxed in Serbia, did not change much after the tax increases. This taxation policy also increased the tobacco excise revenue from 39 billion RSD in 2008 to 84 billion RSD in 2013 (by 44 percent in real terms). However, the tobacco industry managed to modify the impact of the tobacco taxes. In 2012-early 2014, it vastly increased its (net-of-tax) part of cigarette price, and this reinforced the taxation impact on tobacco sales as the final retail price increased more than expected. As the growth of the industry profit margins was disproportionately soaring, the industry increased its profits despite the decline of tobacco sales. The main factor behind the cigarette sales reduction in 2012-2014 was the industry pricing tactics, while the excise rate increases were rather moderate. The combined effect of government taxes and industry prices substantially reduced cigarette affordability, and the resulting sales decline exceeded the excise burden growth; so, the government excise revenue decreased. In late 2014, the tobacco industry decreased prices for some brands, and it also contributed to the excise revenue decline in 2014, as ad valorem part of cigarette excise was rather high in Serbia.
format Brief
author World Bank Group
author_facet World Bank Group
author_sort World Bank Group
title Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
title_short Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
title_full Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
title_fullStr Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
title_full_unstemmed Serbia : Overview of Tobacco Use, Tobacco Control Legislation and Taxation
title_sort serbia : overview of tobacco use, tobacco control legislation and taxation
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/499321560881630381/Serbia-Overview-of-Tobacco-Use-Tobacco-Control-Legislation-and-Taxation
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31951
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