Romanian producers protest planned excise duty on beverages containing sugar

Romania’s National Soft Drinks Association (ANBR) objected to the Government’s plans to levy a special excise duty on sugary soft drinks, claiming that it is discriminatory (versus other food containing sugar), excessive and aimed only at generating revenues to the budget.

Quoting an evaluation for a similar bill drafted in the past, ANBR claims that the shelf prices would rise by up to 60%, Wall-street.ro informed.

“According to the ANBR study for the previous project, the price would increase by up to 60%,” said the association’s representative Alin Visan.

The same study invoked by ANBR estimates that the total turnover of the soft drinks industry would drop by 40%, while almost 24% of the employees could be made redundant.

Other sources, such as News.ro or Adevarul, quote ANBR as estimating the rise of the shelf price by up to 90%. The association also argues that higher taxation was not found worldwide as a good practice for the reduction of sugar consumption, as opposed to education and information targeted policies that generated a positive outcome.

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