Tobacco vendors to register

Unregistered sellers of tobacco products in Fiji will, from February1, be liable to penalties of up to $5,000, according to a Fiji Broadcasting Corp story.

The country’s tobacco-products wholesalers and retailers, including suki vendors, are being advised to renew their registrations now so that they will be able to continue selling such products. Registrations started on December 1.

The Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services, Philip Davies, said recently that wholesalers and retailers had until the January 31 to register.

And, according to a story in The Fiji Times Online, the Health Minister Jone Usamate  said that tobacco and suki vendors had to make every effort to visit their nearest health office in the Central, Western and Northern divisions. “Our Tobacco Control Team will be present to do a mass registration and licensing campaign and the certificates will be issued on site,” Usamate said.

Under the Tobacco Control Decree, all those trading in tobacco products have to register or renew their existing registration annually.