Under the Law of September 28, 2022, amending the Law on the Manufacture of Ethyl Alcohol and the Manufacture of Tobacco Products, there have been significant changes in the sanctioning of illegal alcohol and tobacco production.

The new wording of the infamous Article 12a of the Law tightens the sanction against conducting activities without the required registration - currently, whoever, without the required registration in the registers referred to in Article 3 (1) and (2), manufactures, purifies, denatures or dehydrates ethyl alcohol or manufactures tobacco products - is subject to a fine, restriction of freedom or imprisonment for up to 3 years. As a reminder, prior to this change, the penalty of imprisonment was a maximum of 1 year. Moreover, if the act involves ethyl alcohol or tobacco products of significant value, the perpetrator will be subject to imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years. Previously, the act was alternatively sanctioned with a fine, restriction of liberty, and up to 2 years imprisonment.

In the event that the perpetrator has made a regular source of income for himself from the described practice, he is subject to a penalty of 3 to 8 years (Article 14 of the law), so such an act constitutes a crime under the criminal law. Thus, the legislator followed the earlier amendments introducing the so-called "VAT crime." Again, an act that primarily harms the tax sphere is criminalized in parallel as a crime under non-criminal law.

The amendment is aimed at combating the shadow economy and protecting public health from the harmful effects of consuming illegal products. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, in 2022 the loss to the state budget from illegal alcohol and tobacco trade amounted to about 5 billion zlotys.

Poland is one of the most active countries when it comes to illegal cigarette production. According to a report by the Almares Institute, the services have already seized nearly 169 million cigarettes and 410 tons of tobacco in the first half of 2023, while liquidating 10 illegal cigarette factories in Poland.