Cigarettes sold without SDPC mark will be illegal starting 1 March

Violators can face up to 6 years in jail.

From tomorrow (1 March 2013), cigarettes sold in Singapore which do not bear the new SDPC (Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarette) mark will be deemed duty-unpaid and illegal.

The new SDPC mark features a series of vertical bars around the cigarette stick 

This allows enforcement officers and the public to differentiate easily duty-paid cigarettes from duty-unpaid or contraband cigarettes.

This measure will further enhance the effectiveness of the anti-contraband cigarette operations that Singapore Customs conducts across the island to curb the selling, buying and possession of contraband cigarettes.

To give manufacturers and retailers sufficient time to phase in the new SDPC mark, cigarettes bearing the new SDPC mark were allowed to be sold from 1 December last year. 

Travellers who bring in cigarettes from overseas for their own consumption are required to declare them at the Customs Red Channel for payment of duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST).

They are advised to keep the receipt issued by Singapore Customs as proof of payment of duty and GST. Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act. 

Offenders will be severely dealt with. They can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty evaded and/or jailed for up to six years.