ROMANIA - The Ministry of Finance has introduced a government decree that will bring chewing tobacco and snus under the same excise regime as cigarettes. The proposal, launched for public debate on 26 January, removes the existing tax loophole that let these products be taxed less heavily and have been difficult to control. The new rules will calculate excise duty based on the amount of tobacco in a product, not on the unit or packaging. Producers and importers of chewing tobacco or snus must be licensed as excise operators and can only manufacture in state‑controlled warehouses, mirroring the controls applied to alcohol and cigarettes. The change is aimed at tightening market oversight, reducing tax evasion and smuggling, and ensuring the state receives proper revenue from these tobacco products. The decree follows emergency regulation 68/2025, which already placed chewing tobacco and snus in the category of goods subject to excise taxes but left their application ambiguous.

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