Published: 2004-09-04
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Official translation
2007 01 29
GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
RESOLUTION No 408
of 9 April 2004
ON the APPROVAL OF THE RULES FOR THE MARKING OF PROCESSED TOBACCO, ETHYL ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES WITH SPECIAL MARKS – tAX STAMPS
Vilnius
Acting pursuant to Articles 27 and 30 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 98-3482, 2001; No 26-802, 2004) and to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Alcohol Control (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 44-1073, 1995; No 47-1548, 2004), the Government of the Republic of Lithuania h a s r e s o l v e d:
1. To approve the Rules for the Marking of Processed Tobacco, Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages with Special Marks – Tax Stamps (as appended).
2. To repeal:
2.1. Resolution No 927 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 19 June 2002 on the Marking of Processed Tobacco, Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages with Special Marks – Tax Stamps (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 64-2589, 2002);
2.2. Resolution No 1249 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 10 August 2002 amending Resolution No 927 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 19 June 2002 on the Marking of Processed Tobacco, Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages with Special Marks – Tax Stamps (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 80-3434, 2002);
2.3. Resolution No 753 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 12 June 2003 amending Resolution No 927 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 19 June 2002 on the Marking of Processed Tobacco, Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages with Special Marks – Tax Stamps (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 58-2590, 2003).
APPROVED by
Resolution No 408 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
of 9 December 2004
RULES FOR THE MARKING OF PROCESSED TOBACCO, ETHYL ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES WITH SPECIAL MARKS – TAX STAMPS
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The Rules for the Marking of Processed Tobacco, Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages with Special Marks – Tax Stamps (hereinafter referred to as these Rules) shall regulate the procedure for the marking of processed tobacco and ethyl alcohol intended for sale in the Republic of Lithuania, except for the products referred to in Article 3(10)(3) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 98-3482, 2001; No 26-802, 2004), as well as products falling within code 2207 of the Combined Nomenclature (hereinafter referred to as ethyl alcohol), and alcoholic beverages with special marks – tax stamps, also cases where the marking is not required.
2. These Rules shall apply to legal persons of the Republic of Lithuania and foreign legal persons, branches of legal persons of foreign states, representative offices, as well as natural persons selling or transporting and storing processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages for business purposes (hereinafter referred to as persons).
3. Processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages shall be deemed to be intended for sale in the Republic of Lithuania where these goods are put into free circulation in the Republic of Lithuania and are not transported to a tax warehouse in accordance with the procedure established in legal acts, also, where the said goods are not subject to the excise duty suspension arrangement.
4. The main terms as used in these Rules shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 98-3482, 2001; No 26-802, 2004) and the Law on the Production of Securities, Document Templates, Tax Stamps, Official Marking Signs (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 61-2758, 2003).
II. MARKING
5.A special mark – tax stamp conforming to the sample approved by the minister of finance (hereinafter referred to as a tax stamp) shall be attached to a packet, bag, bottle or any other container or packaging (hereinafter referred to as packaging) of processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages intended for sale in the Republic of Lithuania, except in the cases specified in Paragraph 21 of these Rules.
6. A tax stamp shall be affixed to the packaging of processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages in such a manner that it cannot be removed and that the packaging cannot be removed or opened without the tax stamp being torn. Where processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are marked with tax stamps by manufacturers and the packaging containing the said products is wrapped in cellophane or any other transparent material, the tax stamps shall be affixed under the cellophane or such other transparent material. In the case where cigarette packaging is wrapped in cellophane or any other transparent material, the tax stamp shall be affixed under the cellophane or such other transparent material regardless of where the packaging is tax-stamped.
Where a tax stamp cannot be affixed in the manner specified in the first subparagraph of this Paragraph 6, the minister of finance may authorise the use of other tax-stamping methods. In this case the person concerned shall submit a written application to the Ministry of Finance, which, having considered the justifiability of the application, shall take a decision at least within 30 days and notify the applicant thereof. A decision to authorise the use of another tax-stamping method shall be made in the form of an order.
7. Tax stamps intended for marking cigarette packaging shall bear an indication of the maximum retail price of those cigarettes.
8. Once new samples of tax stamps are approved by the minister of finance, persons shall be authorised to:
8.1. mark processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the Republic of Lithuania with tax stamps of the old version for the period of one year from the date of approval of the new sample of tax stamps;
8.2. import to the territory of the Republic of Lithuania from another Member State of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as a Member State) or put into free circulation in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages marked with tax stamps of the old version for the period of one year from the date of approval of the new sample of tax stamps;
9. Following two years from the date of approval of the new sample of tax stamps, processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages marked with tax stamps of the old version shall be inventoried within two working days, with the Inventory List to be drawn up in two copies. These two copies of the Inventory List shall, no later than within seven working days after the inventory, be submitted to the local State Tax Inspectorate serving the territory in which the processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are sold or stored. One copy shall remain with the local State Tax Inspectorate and the other, sealed with the seal of the Inspectorate to confirm the receipt of the Inventory List at the Inspectorate, shall be kept in the premises where the processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are sold or stored.
10. The processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages inventoried in accordance with Paragraph 9 of these Rules may be sold, transported and stored until their stocks are exhausted.
11. Tax stamps shall be removed from processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages exported from the Republic of Lithuania and shall be torn or cut, except in the cases when excise duties have been paid in the Republic of Lithuania and no refund is requested or when there is a written authorisation of the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as the State Tax Inspectorate) to do so.
12. Orders for the production of tax stamps may be submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate and tax stamps collected from the Inspectorate only by:
12.1. a fiscal agent designated in the Republic of Lithuania by the authorised warehouse keeper of another Member State. In this case the fiscal agent shall order and collect tax stamps in the name of the authorised warehouse keeper of that other Member State;
13. Tax stamps may be attached:
13.1. to processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages – in a tax warehouse opened in any Member State, in C-type bonded customs warehouses opened by persons in the Republic of Lithuania, and in free warehouses or free zones;
13.3. to processed tobacco (except for cigarettes), ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages – in warehouses located in the Republic of Lithuania. This provision shall be applied only where processed tobacco (except for cigarettes), ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are transported to the Republic of Lithuania from other Member States. In these warehouses tax stamps shall be attached within five working days from the day on which the processed tobacco (except for cigarettes), ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages arrive at the warehouse concerned. An official of the territorial State Tax Inspectorate shall be present during the marking procedure.
14. Tax stamps collected from the State Tax Inspectorate may be transferred for the purpose of marking processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages only to:
14.1. an authorised warehouse keeper of another Member State. This provision shall apply where the tax stamps are transferred to the authorised warehouse keeper by a fiscal agent designated by that authorised warehouse keeper in the Republic of Lithuania;
15. Where more than 0.1 per cent of the tax stamps issued to a person against a document certifying the issuance of tax stamps and then transferred (to be transferred) to persons of non-Member States who manufacture processed tobacco have been lost, the State Tax Inspectorate shall take a written decision to refuse to issue tax stamps to that person, unless the person does not intend to transfer tax stamps to persons of non-Member States. The State Tax Inspectorate shall communicate this decision to the person in respect of whom the decision was taken.
A person shall regain the right to transfer tax stamps for marking purposes to persons of non-Member States who manufacture processed tobacco, if that person does not violate the procedure for transporting, storing, using and selling excisable goods for the period of one year from the date on which the decision to refuse to issue tax stamps was taken.
16. Persons stamp-marking processed tobacco (except cigarettes), ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania must maintain accounting registers of stamp-marking of processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and/or alcoholic beverages or handle such accounting by using accounting software. The form of such accounting registers and the rules for maintaining them as well as the requirements for accounting software shall be established by the State Tax Inspectorate.
17. Accounting registers specified in Paragraph 16 of these Rules shall be registered with the local State Tax Inspectorate in whose territory processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and/or alcoholic beverages are stamp-marked.
18. Persons shall order and collect tax stamps, supply data on the use of tax stamps and return tax stamps in accordance with the procedure established by the State Tax Inspectorate.
19. A person shall pay for tax stamps ordered by him within five working days from the day on which he receives a notification from the State Tax Inspectorate that the tax stamps have been received at the Inspectorate; such payment shall be made according to the pricelist for tax stamps approved by the Ministry of Finance.
20. To make sure that the person discharges his obligation to pay for tax stamps made on his order, the State Tax Inspectorate shall have the right to require that the person submit a security as laid down in the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 74-2262, 2000).
III. CASES IN WHICH MARKING IS NOT REQUIRED
21. Tax stamps shall not be required in the following cases:
21.1. when processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are exempt from excise duty in the cases laid down in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty, except in the case laid down in Article 17(1)(2) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty; or when these goods are intended for military units of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries other than the Republic of Lithuania to be used by these military units themselves or by the accompanying civil employees, when these units participate in joint military operations, exercises or any other joint events in the Republic of Lithuania, and for international organisations recognized in the Republic of Lithuania, their missions and members;
21.2. when the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Excise Duty does not require to pay excise duties for processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages;
21.3. when processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are transported to the Republic of Lithuania to either registered or unregistered traders and such traders store these goods for business purposes, except in the cases when the stored processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are intended for sale in the Republic of Lithuania;
21.4. when processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are transported to the Republic of Lithuania from another Member State and stored for business purposes or for the needs of public legal persons and, also when processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are transported to the Republic of Lithuania from another Member State by the seller or by another person on the order of the seller, to a person who is neither a registered nor unregistered trader or to other than a tax warehouse. This provision shall not be applied where the stored processed tobacco, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages are intended for sale in the Republic of Lithuania;
21.5. for wine to be used for cult ceremonies, where the recipients of the wine are religious centres of Lithuania’s traditional religious communities and associations specified in the Law on Religious Communities and Associations of the Republic of Lithuania (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 89-1985, 1995);
IV. FINAL PROVISIONS
22.The State Tax Inspectorate shall store information about tax stamps ordered by and issued to individuals and about tax stamps received at the Inspectorate, on a computer database. The available information may be provided to other authorities in accordance with the procedure established in legal acts.
