Large-scale tax audits of manufacturers who have licenses for the right to produce liquids for electronic cigarettes are currently being conducted in Ukraine. In such a format and with such an intensity that we have not seen before.

To understand the scale (according to our data):
• at the beginning of last year there were 11 active licensees
• after changes in the legislation, there were 7 of them
• as of now, there are actually 5 entities that have a license for the production of liquids and related products.

The state declares the fight against the black market, counterfeiting and illegal circulation - and it is right. But from the way these checks look, one gets the impression that the blow is going the wrong way.

What we see in practice
(from the words of producers with whom the association keeps in touch):
• inspections are carried out with the feeling of centralized instructions from the central apparatus of the DPS
• check even what is not the subject of the check
• during the process, additional requests for documents are "sent" directly "on the fly"
• producers are forced to hand over documents in boxes, instead of working and producing.

The result is simple: the few licensed producers who are already working in difficult conditions and are waiting for transparent rules, get a de facto stoppage of activity for at least a week, and sometimes even for a week and a half.

And here is the key question:
Should DPS help those who really fill the budget - or create conditions under which they cannot work?

One gets the impression that the logic of checks sometimes sounds like this: "You don't need to do it, because you're doing it wrong, and we don't know how to do it right."

We are monitoring the situation, keeping in touch with licensed producers, and hope that these inspections will be completed without destroying the already small segment of legal production.

It is necessary to fight against illegal and counterfeit goods.
And not with those who work legally and are able to increase tax revenues under the conditions of adequate rules.