Sales ban proposal attacked

Tobacco companies in Russia believe that a proposal to ban the sale of tobacco products to people born after 2015 would adversely affect consumers, legal producers and retailers, according to an ITAR-TASS story relayed by the TMA.

The proposal was unveiled recently by the Russian health ministry.

Such end-game proposals have been discussed extensively elsewhere, recently in Tasmania, Australia; but so far no country has introduced regulations along these lines.

Commenting on the Russian government’s proposal, Sergey Slipchenko, vice president for corporate affairs at PMI Russia, said it was “superfluous” and unlikely to curb consumption among young people.

On the contrary, he added, it might lead to adverse consequences – particularly to an accelerated growth in the illegal trade in tobacco products.

Sergey Kiselev, vice president of corporate affairs and communications at JTI Russia, said such measures “undermine operations of the legal industry, accelerate substitution of legal products by cheaper counterparts from the shadow market and ultimately undermine stability of tax deductions to the budget”.

And Yana Guskova, BAT Russia’s external corporate affairs director, said there was a need to make an independent comprehensive assessment of the regulatory impact of the proposal. The ITAR-TASS story said the companies unanimously believed that the proposal would adversely affect consumers, legal producers and retailers.