Bulgaria's parliament on Thursday moved to ban the unlicensed production of cigarettes, to close a loophole under which only the illicit sale of cigarettes has been punishable. The draft law passed its first reading and is expected to pass on its second reading next month.
It will punish such activity with up to ten years in prison and fines of between 10,000 and 50,000 euros ($11,000-$57,000). Unauthorised possession of the factory equipment needed for such an operation will be punishable by up to three years in jail.
The new law was drafted after officials shut down five clandestine cigarette factories in August, but were unable to charge the operators because they had been producing cigarettes without a licence.
Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov argued the case for the new measures last month, saying that "clandestine cigarette production has become an important parallel economy comparable to drug trafficking".
Bulgaria has been particularly susceptible to the problem as in recent years many licenced factories have had to close. That has left a large workforce with experience in the sector liable to be tempted into working in the black market.
Prosecutors said the operation behind the factories shut down in August had been formidably organised. Workers were driven to the production sites in vehicles with tinted windows so they couldn't see where they were going.