Morocco Updates Tobacco Law, Introduces Tax on Heated Products

As part of an essential need to adapt the law to the provisions provided for in the tobacco-related budget project, the draft law has established an internal consumption tax (TIC) of 1500 DH per 1000 gr, applicable to heated tobacco, at the request of distributors, since during the adoption of the tobacco law in 2003, heated tobacco did not yet exist, reports L’Economiste.

Thus, the future standard will set by decree the content of cigarettes for the three substances that are carbon monoxide, tar and nicotine. The finance bill also provides for a rearrangement of the method of calculating the TIC base on tobacco products.

The tax will now be assessed by integrating the cost of fiscal marking. Thus, "the measure should result in an increase in the selling price of around 0.60 DH", indicated a distributor. To better fight against smoking, the sale by pack of less than 20 cigarettes is prohibited under law 138-12, published in the Official Bulletin in 2013.

For the record, the tobacco industry, the second contributor to TIC revenue, after petroleum products, is an essential fiscal issue, representing 11.34 billion DH in 2019, compared to 10.86 billion DH in 2018, although retail sales were tested by the lockdown for several months. In addition, the provisions have been updated with the integration of the possibility of carrying out the accounting related to the use of raw materials by electronic process, concludes the same source.