With effect from 1 January 2009, all duty-paid cigarettes sold in Singapore will be legally required to be marked with the letters “SDPC” (which stands for Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarettes).
All cigarettes will continue to be sold in packets bearing the graphic health warning lables as stipulated by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
The SDPC will be marked on every individual stick of cigarettes.
From 1 January 2009, all cigarettes without the SDPC-marking in Singapore will be deemed illegal. Therefore, anyone caught selling, buying, or having in possession cigarettes without the SDPC marking will be committing an offence under the Customs and GST Acts.
The new marking regulation seeks to achieve the following objectives:
- To reinforce Singapore Customs’ intensified operations to keep contraband cigarettes off the streets,
- As a measure to visibly differentiate duty-paid cigarettes from contraband cigarettes to enhance detection by our enforcement officers, and
- As deterrence to curb the peddling and buying of contraband cigarettes in Singapore
Anyone caught selling, buying, or having in possession of duty unpaid cigarettes without the SDPC marking will be committing an offence under the Customs and GST Acts. For every packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes, buyers will be fined $500. Illegal peddlers will be arrested and charged in Court.Offenders will be fined or sent to jail or both.
Please click here for a list of frequently-asked questions on the new SDPC cigarette marking regulation.
You can read the media release for details on the new SDPC cigarette marking regulation.