MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Russia’s federal budget received 471 billion rubles ($4.8 bln) of tax revenues thanks the mechanism of labelling, Deputy Prime Minister, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Wednesday, September 27, 2023. He was speaking at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the Cabinet of Ministers.

"In addition to citizens and responsible businesses, our budget system also receives effects from the introduction of labelling. Over the years of implementation of this mechanism, direct and indirect additional tax revenues amounted to 471 billion rubles. What is important is that fiscal results arise almost immediately after the inclusion of a new product group in the project. In particular in the first year, the volume of tax collections on dairy products increased by a third," he said.

On reducing share of illegal goods

Currently, the labeling covers 16 categories of goods, which form about 15% of the country’s non-commodity GDP, Manturov said. As a result, the share of illegal goods in the perfumery industry decreased by a quarter, in the category of footwear by a third, and the share of counterfeit tires decreased by half. In the water market, the labelling revealed about 450 producers who had not previously reported to the authorities.

"Now they are all registered and pay taxes. And in general, the visible segment of the water market has increased by more than a quarter," the Deputy Prime Minister concluded.

Labelling made it possible to reduce the sale of expired medicines by three times over the past year.

"I would like to note the introduction of remote control over the dispensing of prescribed potent and narcotic drugs from September 1. In addition to Roszdravnadzor (Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare - TASS), the Interior Ministry received access to the system. The implementation of a risk-based approach allows us to identify pharmacies that violate the rules for dispensing drugs of the designated category," Manturov added.