Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The State Tax Committee of Uzbekistan summed up the results of an audit of the activities of business entities and citizens selling tobacco and alcohol products.

For the period September-October 2022, employees of the State Tax Committee stopped the illegal circulation of alcohol and tobacco products in the amount of 1.25 billion soums.

As a result of inspections of business entities and citizens selling tobacco products, carried out from September to October of this year, employees of the Tax Committee stopped the illegal circulation of 40,267 packs of tobacco products for a total of 497.6 million soums.

As a result, the following was removed:

— 15 business entities have 13,934 packs worth 101.6 million soums without excise stamps and without digital marking;

- 302 citizens who have not passed state registration - 26,333 packs in the amount of 396 million soums.

The collected documents on these cases were sent to law enforcement agencies for taking appropriate measures in the manner prescribed by law.

It should be recalled that:

- From 1 January 2021 - a requirement for mandatory digital labeling of alcohol and tobacco products with identification tools has been established.

- After 12 months from the date of introduction of the procedure for marking goods subject to mandatory digital marking, the sale of such goods on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan without marking is prohibited.

Active work on the part of the tax and customs committees, as well as law enforcement agencies, is yielding results. However, despite the efforts of the authorities, the share of consumption of illegal products in Uzbekistan in the first 6 months of 2022 is still very high - 15%

To stop this stream of crimes, it is necessary to introduce the practice of open destruction of contraband and public imposition of fines on violating sellers. Such a measure will help cool the ardor of unscrupulous entrepreneurs and remind them that, by dealing with smuggling, they risk not only freedom, but also lose impressive amounts of money.