The role of a lawyer is not only to defend the rights of their clients, but also civil rights in the courtroom and beyond. It is precisely in the course of this daily work with legal provisions and clients’ stories, which sometimes not even the most creative screenwriter could invent, that one can see how the law can affect our lives. This is especially visible when regulations are ill-conceived, incomprehensible, or mismatched with reality. Then, the frequent reaction of the authorities applying these provisions (police, courts, National Revenue Administration) is indifference or incorrect application of these provisions.
Such is the price for creating bad law. And it is always people, citizens, who pay this price.
In my practice, I have often spoken out about ill-conceived, incomprehensible regulations and erroneous law enforcement practices. In media statements, in the courtroom, and on this blog. This was the case in matters of internet fraud using bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets. A veritable plague, towards which the state and its bodies maintain an incomprehensibly blatant indifference. I will dedicate a separate article to this soon. In matters of the absurd and brutal practice of pre-trial detention in Poland or in the matter of the “legal chaos” regarding paid sexual services.
Now, my attention was drawn to information about a radical increase in excise duty on e-cigarettes and announcements of raising excise duty on alcohol. All this, of course, in the name of “public health protection.” In my opinion, this is another example of incomprehensible legislation that misses the actual problem. Acting in an incomprehensible way, it creates even greater chaos and constitutes a kind of legal trap for citizens.
It is a commonly known truth in the world of social and legal sciences that merely tightening sanctions, deterrence (and that is essentially what such a prohibitive increase in excise duty on the aforementioned nicotine products is) does not work as a method of combating a given phenomenon. If it did, it would be enough to raise the price of a bottle of sweetened beverage to 100 PLN and a bottle of vodka to 200 PLN to solve the problem of sugar or alcohol abuse. But it does not work that simply.
At the root of this draconian and completely pointless – from the perspective of effectively shaping the health habits of society – excise duty increase, lies the same flawed approach that I wrote about in my post on Polish regulations regarding paid sexual services.
What we are really seeing is turning away from the real problem and the real, necessary, difficult social debate on the subject and legal solutions that could actually be applied to reduce the scale of nicotine product use. Especially among young people. The example of the Swedish model’s legislative philosophy in approaching this problem shows that it is possible. However, it requires a thoughtful, long-term, and balanced approach. History teaches that extreme, prohibitive approaches have always ended with negative consequences for society.
Invoking the goal of reducing the popularity of these products among young people when introducing this prohibitive excise duty on e-cigarettes (an otherwise legitimate goal, but not by these methods) leads me to conclude that it is young people who will largely bear the cost of this socio-legal experiment. Wealthy customers will probably manage, simply by paying more. Young people will look for cheaper alternatives online, abroad, trade such products on the Internet themselves, or worse, choose traditional cigarettes.
In my practice, focused largely on the world of cryptocurrencies, I have already dealt several times with situations where people under 18 asked for legal consultation (sometimes they came with their parents…). They were already actively participating in the digital world, sometimes possessed very large sums in cryptocurrencies, engaging in the virtual world in, among other things, “importing vapes” from the Czech Republic or China. They were surprised to learn that there exists something called excise tax, the Fiscal Criminal Code, under which criminal liability is borne from the age of 17, and that excise on cigarettes and alcohol is one of the iron items of budget revenue, so the National Revenue Administration has no scruples here…
All this led me to the conclusion that this matter is worth filing a legislative petition. By no means in the interest of this or that poison. Because truth be told, alcohol and tobacco (nicotine) are poisons, and it is human nature that these poisons have accompanied us for thousands of years. But in the interest of clear, comprehensible, and stable regulation of a given social area. Regulation that will encourage us, members of a given community, rather than force us, to make the best decisions for ourselves, our health, and the quality of our lives.
The petition text can be downloaded here: Petition PDF
Paweł Osiński
Attorney