No rise in cigarette prices in 2015

It was the hot topic of the end of 2014. Would cigarette prices go up in 2015 or not? There had indeed been talk of a 30-cent increase on every pack from 1 January 2015.

Prices frozen, tobacconists reassured

Members of parliament have finally decided, and not without difficulty. The heated debate drew a good deal of opposition within the governing majority itself. On Friday 5 December an amendment was passed, putting an end to the automatic annual increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes in France. In 2015, the price of a pack of cigarettes will stay the same as in 2014. This was one of the demands of tobacconists, who considered it abnormal that each year the rise in French cigarette prices widened the gap with prices in other European Union countries, creating what they described as unfair competition. Many French smokers buy their cigarettes from neighbouring European countries, where they cost less than at French tobacconists. The cheapest pack, at 6.50 euros, will therefore still cost 6.5 euros next year, as will every other pack of cigarettes.

Cigarette pack prices frozen in 2015, and a second announcement: no automatic annual increase. (Pfg/Sipa)

Tobacco sales banned online

Another demand from tobacconists was voted on in the National Assembly that same Friday, 5 December: buying tobacco online. French tobacconists had long complained about this parallel market. Still as part of the 2014 amending budget, members of parliament voted to prohibit any distance purchase of tobacco, whether in a foreign country or over the internet. Buyers face a prison sentence of up to five years for organised trafficking. France has also obtained an undertaking from its partners that each member state will ban distance selling as well. The government welcomes this new amendment as a way of tackling illegal imports.

Well before 2015 has begun, the French state has already settled some of its resolutions on tobacco: no increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes in 2015, and a ban on selling or buying tobacco online.

OVER TO YOU. Cigarette pack prices frozen: has the government made the right decision?