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Selling Tobacco Products in Italy

Selling Tobacco Products in Italy

Manufacturing, distributing and selling tobacco and tobacco products fall under the regulations of the Italian Tobacco Act, but also under the Community legislation. Moreover, Italy is a signatory member of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control since September 2008. Italy has an extended legislation regarding the consumption of tobacco products and also provisions for Italian companies selling tobacco.

What are the main regulations tobacco retailers must comply with in Italy?

Italian companies selling tobacco products are not allowed to display any direct or indirect advertisement to tobacco productsTobacco manufacturers are also required to label and sell cigarettes while complying with the Legislative Decree No. 184/2003 with respect to applying health warnings on tobacco packages, limitations on certain substances contained by the product and listing the ingredients used in the manufacturing of the tobacco products. Moreover, Italian companies selling tobacco products are required to eliminate descriptive terms such as light or mild.

The following video offers a short presentation concerning the sale of tobacco products in Italy

Tobacco retailers are also required to submit a detailed list of all the ingredients used to manufacture the products with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy in Italy.

The supervision of Italian tobacco retailers

Italian companies manufacturing, distributing and selling tobacco products are supervised by the Independent Administration of State Monopolies (Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato, AAMS). The AAMS also collects the taxes applied to tobacco retailers in Italy.

Investors wanting to set up a tobacco company are required to register the company with the Italian Companies Registrar first, select the correspondent NACE code in the Nomenclature of Economic Activities and then lodge an application with the AAMS in order to be included in the official retail price list. The NACE code for manufacturing tobacco and tobacco products in Italy is in Section D, subsection DA 16.00.

Once the company has been included in the official price list, the AAMS will verify the product description and classify it in order to apply the correct tax rate and to make sure the product complies with the regulations regarding labeling and ingredients.

For complete details about licensing requirement to sell tobacco products, please contact our law firm in Italy.