Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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210. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated cost of smuggling, cigarette smuggling and fuel laundering to the Exchequer; the total seizures in 2014 and in 2015 to date in each category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30257/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the numbers of seizures, in 2014 and to the end of June this year, of various categories of products and goods, the numbers of items seized in each of  those categories and  the values of those seized goods, are set out in the following table.

**Vehicles seized for marked mineral oil offences. Vehicles Registration Tax offences and because of use inconnection with alleged offences under customs or Excise law.

In addition, there were 9,915 detentions of goods in connection with suspected contravention of intellectual property rights in 2014, involving 90,753 items.  The estimated market value of the genuine equivalent of the detained items was in excess of €4m.

Estimating the scale of any illegal activity, and the tax loss to which it gives rise, is necessarily difficult and it is not possible, therefore, to attribute a value to the overall losses associated with smuggling. The extent of the illegal trade in cigarettes is estimated, however, through annual surveys of smokers that are carried out for the Revenue Commissioners and for the National Tobacco Control Office of the Health Services Executive by Ipsos MRBI. Assuming that the illegal cigarettes consumed displaced the equivalent full tax paid quantities of cigarettes, the results of the 2014 survey indicate that the loss to the Exchequer in excise duty and VAT attributable to the illegal trade was in the order of €210 million.

The Revenue Commissioners also advise me that, while there is no reliable estimate of the extent of illegal activity in the fuel sector, they recognise that fuel fraud, including the laundering of markers from rebated fuel, is a significant threat to Exchequer revenues. Action against this illegal activity is, therefore, a priority for Revenue, which is implementing a comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem. Key elements of this strategy include the following:

- The licensing regime for auto fuel traders was strengthened with effect from September 2011 to limit the ability of fuel criminals to place laundered fuel on the market.

- A new licensing regime was introduced for marked fuel traders in October 2012, designed to limit the ability of criminals to source marked fuel for laundering.

- New requirements in relation to fuel traders' records of stock movements and fuel deliveries were introduced to ensure that data would be available to support supply chain analysis.

- Following a significant investment in the required IT systems, new supply chain controls were introduced from January 2013. These controls require all licensed fuel traders, whether dealing in road fuel or marked fuel, to make monthly electronic returns of their fuel transactions to Revenue. These data are being used to identify suspicious or anomalous transactions and patterns of distribution that will support follow-up enforcement action where necessary.

- The introduction from the start of April 2015 of a new and more effective product for marking rebated fuels that was identified as a result of a joint process conducted with HM Revenue and Customs in the UK. The work of Revenue officers in testing fuel for the presence of the new marker will be supported by mobile equipment that will allow on the spot analysis of samples.

- The introduction of the necessary legislative provisions required to underpin these important initiatives, as well as measures designed to strengthen Revenue's hand in combatting fuel criminality.  The Finance (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that a supplier who is reckless in supplying fuel for a use connected with excise fraud will be liable for duty at the standard rate of tax, and represents a significant disincentive to such activity. In the Finance Act 2014, measures to further strengthen Revenue's ability to refuse or revoke a mineral oil trader's licence, where the trader does nor comply with excise law, does not maintain adequate stock management systems and records, or provides false or misleading information, were put in place.

I am assured by Revenue that they are very conscious of the threats posed by all forms of smuggling and by criminality in the fuel sector, and that action against all such forms of illegal activity is, and will continue to be, a central element of their work.