The Constitutional Court ruled that the modification of excise duties on filter tip cigarettes is unconstitutional. The Constitution provides that the Government’s consent must precede the adoption of bills with budgetary impact in the final reading. But the changes concerning excises on cigarettes were passed by Parliament without the Government’s consent, IPN reports.
According to a communiqué from the Constitutional Court, the bill drafted by Government stipulates a different method for increasing the excise duties on filter tip cigarettes than that adopted by the legislative body. Both the fixed component and the component expressed in percentage should be raised (“50 lei + 31%”). The Court held that the challenged amendments were adopted by Parliament without the preliminary consent of the Government.
The challenge was submitted by a group of Liberal MPs. They disputed the amendments by which the excises in cigarettes were increased from “45 lei + 24%” to “75 lei + 24%” per unit of measurement (1,000 pieces), though the Government in its bill approved a raise to “50 lei + 31%”. The Liberals said that procedure for forming the public budget was thus violated, which is against the Constitution.
