Hungary Not Meeting Threshold for Duties on Cigarettes, European Commission Says

The European Commission is referring Hungary to the European Union Court of Justice for failing to apply the minimum EU threshold for excise duties on cigarettes, the commission said in an Oct. 10 press release. Hungary’s low duty rate creates “distortions of competition with other Member States and is at odds with EU health protection policy,” the commission said. Hungary has been given a “long transitional period” to comply with the EU’s minimum 60 percent excise duty, the press release said.