The government of Sri Lanka increased the excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes by 20 percent, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said the duty was raised to increase state revenue and discourage alcohol and cigarette consumption. In 2021, Sri Lanka collected LKR249.6 billion ($687 million) in taxes from alcohol and tobacco products, according to Siyambalapitiya.
New smoking rules come into effect Jan. 1 in Portugal, dictating that “In catering or drinking establishments, including those with rooms or spaces intended for dancing, places where smoking is allowed in areas intended for customers may be set up, provided that these establishments have an area for customers equal to or greater than 100 square meters and a minimum ceiling height of 3 meters,” reports The Portugal News.
Spaces intended for smokers “can be constituted up to a maximum of 20 percent of the area intended for customers,” according to the law. There must be posted signs relaying maximum capacity for the spaces and “no entry for persons under 18 years of age.”
The price of all types of cigarettes in Serbia will increase by RSD10 ($0.09) per pack, effective Jan. 1, according to Serbianmonitor.com.
Cigarette prices have increased twice a year since the excise duty schedule was adopted in 2020. Prices will continue to increase until 2025 with the goal to align Serbia with EU standards.
Excise duty for e-liquid is increasing by RSD1 per milliliter, and the price of nonburning tobacco will also increase.
The price of tobacco-based products, including cigarettes, will increase effective January 2023 in Morocco, according to the Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxation, reports Morocco World News.
The increase is part of Morocco’s five-year strategy to decrease smoking rates by raising tariffs. Cigarettes sold in the country will see a MAD1 ($0.09) to MAD2 per pack increase.
Taxes on tobacco-based products will be gradually increased annually for five years under the new strategy.
Shisha and electronic cigarette prices are also set to increase. Now, for every kilo of shisha smoking material, consumers will pay MAD675.
Tax revenues from tobacco products are expected to reach MAD12.5 billion, about a 6 percent increase.
Effective Jan. 1, tobacco companies will have to pay part of Ireland’s multimillion-euro street cleaning bills under new legislation driven by EU moves to cut plastic waste, reports The Irish Times.
Cigarette butts account for half of all litter and are “the biggest litter scourge,” according to the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System.
Beginning this year, tobacco companies will be liable in arrears for part of the costs. The full liability amount will not be set until data is collected on the contribution of cigarette butts to the 2023 litter toll.
A statutory company overseen by the Department of the Environment will be established to ensure that producers are contributing to the cost or redesigning their products to abide by the Brussels directive.
The legislation will later focus on fishing gear, balloons and wet wipes. The change makes producers responsible for the entire life cycle of products, including end-of-use costs.
“It forces companies to rethink what they’re putting on the market and the costs involved—if they have to pay for litter clean-ups, if they have to pay for recycling,” said Bernie Kiely, a senior environment official in circular economy materials management. “What you are doing is putting that whole-of-life cost back on the producers who put it on the market in the first place.”
Cambodia’s Consumer Protection and Fraud Repression General Department of Ministry of Commerce, in cooperation with the National Authority for Combating Drugs, burned 288 boxes of UOLO e-cigarettes, equivalent to 7,200 packs, at a landfill in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, reports the Khmer Times.
Heng Maly, director of the Consumer Protection and Fraud Repression General Department, said, “The e-cigarettes were confiscated on Nov. 3, 2022, from a warehouse, pursuant to the order to seize and destroy by the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.”
The e-cigarettes were discovered after an investigation by the General Department of CCF, which confiscated 3,600 packs of UOLO e-cigarettes, 1,800 e-cigarette machines and 1,800 e-cigarette mouthpieces.
Pyxus International released its Fiscal Year 2022 Sustainability Report. This is Pyxus’ first sustainability report following the release of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework in December 2021.
“This report marks a significant milestone in Pyxus’ sustainability journey. It provides stakeholders with a comprehensive understanding of how our ESG framework and business strategy are intertwined and reaffirms our commitment to transparent reporting as we execute against our measurable ESG goals,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement. “We are excited to share tangible examples of our progress as we work to transform people’s lives and improve the communities in which we operate.”
“I am proud of the progress made against our global ESG goals, which was achieved in spite of operational hurdles, including two consecutive years of La Nina. This is a prime example as to why we must continue to identify innovative solutions and collaborate with like-minded companies to drive the greatest global impact so that together we can grow a better world,” said Sikkel.
Bantam Vape received acceptance of its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) submission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its nontobacco nicotine e-liquids, according to a press release. Bantam’s application now moves to the next step in the PMTA process—a preliminary scientific review to confirm the application contains all required items to permit a substantive review by the FDA.
Bantam submitted its application for its nontobacco nicotine e-liquids to the FDA on May 13, 2022, and is seeking marketing orders from the agency.
“The receipt of this acceptance letter reflects Bantam’s efforts to provide adult consumers with high-quality, science-based e-liquids while upholding our responsibility to restrict youth access and use of these products,” said Bantam spokesperson Anthony Dillon. “Bantam remains supportive of the need for science-based regulation in the e-liquids industry and is proud of the progress of our various PMTAs. We remain confident in the quality and consistency of our products and the science behind them.”
Prior to its nontobacco nicotine-focused submission, Bantam submitted a PMTA to the FDA in September 2020 for its tobacco-derived e-liquids. The application entered scientific review in August 2021, and, to date, remains under FDA review.
School suspensions (stand-downs) have increased in New Zealand since 2020, driven by smoking and vaping prevalence among youth, according to RNZ.
“Breakdown of the smoking or alcohol category indicates that the number of stand-downs due to smoking has increased from 1,210 in 2020 to 2,865 in 2021,” a Ministry of Education report said. “This accounts for 59 percent of the increase in stand-down cases between 2020 and 2021.”
“The data shows that for 75 percent of [the] increase in stand-downs from 2020 to 2021, smoking or vaping was cited as part or all of the reason,” the report said.
While they do not want youth smoking or vaping, said Ben Youdan, Action for Smoke-Free 2025 director, they don’t want schools suspending students for it either.
“There’s plenty of evidence from other drug and alcohol use that actually excluding kids for those things doesn’t discourage them from using them and can even increase harmful use as well,” Youdan said. “That’s because it’s saying to kids, ‘you don’t belong here because of that behavior.’ Kids need somewhere to feel like they belong, and they can have safe and open and honest conversations about vaping and smoking and other substance use as well, and if the school is excluding them, it’s not creating the space to deal with it as a health issue.”
Youdan recommends discussions with those students who are using tobacco products to explain the health risks and help empower them to say no to using these products as well as offer them support to quit.
The report shows that schools suspended 15,968 students 20,980 times in 2021, which was about 2,800 more suspensions in 2021 than in 2020.
California’s controversial ban on flavored tobacco begins today, reports ABC10. A week ago, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s contention that the new state law conflicted with federal law.
Flavored tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars and more, can no longer be sold in stores.
“If they wanted to ban flavored tobacco or regulate it, I feel they should have selected certain stores to be authorized to retail it. It’s saved so many lives, helped so many people get off cigarettes,” said Carlo Sharmoug, owner of Ziggy’s Smoke Shop in Stockton.
Sharmoug says in his 14 years in business, his store has never once sold tobacco to a minor.
Lindsey Freitas, an advocacy director representing California and Hawaii for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says California’s tobacco rates among teens at one point began to decline until e-cigarettes appeared.
“They started being sold in flavors like grape and cherry and gummy bear. And all of a sudden, we saw our youth tobacco rates increasing again,” said Freitas.
Smoke shops like Ziggy’s say California will lose out on millions in tax revenue and believes product will be sold on the black market. However, Freitas disagrees, saying the savings in medical treatment in California alone will be huge.