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Zone of Ambiguity: The Political Economy of Cigarette Bootlegging

NCJ Number
219863
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 47 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 551-571
Author(s)
Rob Hornsby; Dick Hobbs
Date Published
July 2007
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This examination of the development of cigarette bootlegging in the United Kingdom uses a case study of an entrepreneurial criminal organization that attempted to capitalize on the cigarette price disparities within the European Union (EU) through its professional supply of contraband goods to a receptive British market.
Abstract
The bootlegging of tobacco goods involves the purchase of cigarettes and other tobacco products in low-tax EU jurisdictions in amounts that exceed the limits set by customs regulations, then secretly transporting the goods back into the smuggler's own country for illicit resale, paying no local revenue tax. It is widely recognized that this illicit market is aided by the high excise tax placed on tobacco products in the United Kingdom and that goods can be bought at far cheaper rates elsewhere within the EU. The appeal of cigarettes as a commodity for the bootlegger is that even at the relatively low street prices required to attract the consumer, the differential between the "duty-free" and the "duty-paid" price of cigarettes provides substantial profits. The case study provided of one such operation involves what is called the "white van trade." This term refers to the smuggling of duty-paid goods in passenger and light goods vehicles entering Channel ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel. Bought under the guise of cigarettes for "personal use," no British taxes are paid, and these tobacco products are resold within the illicit economy. In analyzing this case study, the paper argues that because of the relaxation of trading barriers through EU legislation, an enterprising criminal firm exploited the emergence of ambiguous zones of trading opportunities within the shifting dynamics of the political economy produced by European integration. 107 references