Tobacco Marketplace > Marketplace Overview

Law 13/1998, of 4 May, Governing the Tobacco Market and Taxation Regulations introduced important changes in the tobacco market, such as:

• the deregulation of the wholesale sector (wholesale manufacture, importation and distribution of tobacco products)
• maintaining the State monopoly over the tobacco product retail sector (with the exception of the Canary Islands), operated through its Network of Tobacco and Stamp Outlets which are often commonly referred to as "estancos".
• the creation of the Autonomous Body of the Tobacco Market Commission, replacing the Government Department for the Tobacco Monopoly. The Commission has responsibilities of a regulatory and monitoring nature for safeguarding the application of criteria of neutrality and ensuring conditions of free competition on the tobacco market, and is the body responsible for interactions and relations with the different operators on the tobacco market and the organisations that represent them.

Maintaining the State monopoly over the retail trade of tobacco products is an essential instrument for the adequate control of a controlled product such as tobacco, which has notable repercussions on healthcare, taxation and customs and excise.

Royal Decree 1199/1999, of 9 July, which developed the detail of the Law Governing the Tobacco Market and the Licensing Statute for the Tobacco and Stamp Outlet Network, establishes the legal regime that applies to the retail trade of tobacco products, classing tobacco and stamp outlets as establishments licensed by the State and providing the licensing statute, which stipulates the rights and obligations of licence holders and the basic regulations governing applications for administrative permits.