Category: People

JT receives PRIDE award
Japan Tobacco Inc. has received the highest-ranked Gold award from the voluntary organization work with Pride (wwP) as part of Japan’s PRIDE Index 2018, according to a note posted on JT’s website. At the same time, the company has been recognized for its Best Practice by the wwP PRIDE Indicator Steering committee, which has a role in evaluating when the efforts put in by companies and organizations are particularly good.
This year marked the third consecutive year in which JT had been awarded Gold status, and the second consecutive year in which it was recognized for its Best Practice.
The PRIDE index rates the efforts of companies and organizations in five categories based on criteria established by wwP.
Awards are given based on the company’s efforts in the light of each category to create a pleasant workplace for LGBT people across Japan.
1. Policy (Action Declaration).
2. Representation (LGBTA network).
3. Inspiration (Raising Awareness).
4. Development (Human Resources Management Policy and Programs).
5. Engagement/Empowerment (Social Responsibility and External Activities).
JT said in its note that it believed in respecting diversity not only in terms of people’s gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and nationality, but also in respect of their backgrounds and values, including their experiences and expertise.
It said that finding value in differences would lead to sustainable growth for the company. ‘Promoting diversity and inclusion is one of the issues in our management plan,’ it said.
‘JT continues to actively promote diversity in order to achieve sustainable growth through the participation of diverse human resources.’
October 11, 2018
Retail licenses suspended
Six Singaporean tobacco retailers that sold cigarettes to people under the age of 18 have had their licenses for selling tobacco products suspended for six months, according to a story in The Straits Times quoting a statement by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
The HSA said the six had not asked for identification to check the buyers’ ages.
It said the staff involved had said they were too busy to ask for identification or that the minors had looked older than their ages.
Sellers, the HSA said, took the risk of contravening the law if they assessed age by physical appearance alone.
It said that tobacco retailers were responsible for all sales of tobacco products taking place at their outlets.
Retailers will have a job on their hands training staff for the future. The minimum legal age to use, possess or buy tobacco products will be raised to 19 next year. And it will be increased to 20 in 2020, and 21 from 2021.
Under current laws, anyone convicted of selling tobacco products to a person under 18 can be fined up to S$5,000 for a first offence. Repeat offenders face a fine of up to S$10,000.
In addition, a seller’s tobacco retail license is liable to be suspended for six months for a first offence and revoked for a second offence.
However, if buyers are minors dressed in school uniform or below 12 years old, the outlet’s retail license is liable to be revoked for a first offence.
Since 2015, the HSA has suspended 79 retail licenses and revoked 11 others.
October 11, 2018
Swedish Match tries again
The US Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it had posted an amendment to the modified risk tobacco product applications (MRTPAs) for General Snus products submitted by Swedish Match North America.
The FDA said that, on December 14, 2016, it had denied the company’s request ‘to remove a currently required warning statement that products can cause gum disease and tooth loss’.
‘With respect to the company’s other requests to remove or revise two additional currently required warnings, FDA deferred final action and issued a response that offered the company an option to amend its applications,’ it said in a note issued through the Center for Tobacco Products.
‘FDA will post any future amendments to the application on the Center for Tobacco Products’ website on a rolling basis as the materials are redacted.’
More information is available here.
October 11, 2018
Vapers to get fair deal
UK vapers are to be given the chance of accessing life insurance at rates close to those paid by non-smokers, according to a press note put out by the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) and the insurance adviser Future Proof.
Until now, vapers – and people who have quit smoking by using nicotine replacement products – have been paying the same premiums as smokers, despite their having switched to less harmful products.
Currently, a 40-year-old smoker who takes out £200,000 of life cover over 25 years can be expected to pay £38.09 a month, whereas a non-smoker would pay £16.06 a month for the same level of cover.
But Future Proof is said to have launched the UK’s first ever price-comparison site especially designed for vapers, a site that will allow them to be separated from smokers and to access tailored insurance packages. The offer applies to former smokers who have been smoke-free through vaping for a year.
According to the press note, a 40-year-old vaper with a 25-year, £200,000 policy, would pay £18.77 a month, much less than a smoker would pay but more than a non-smoker, non-vaper would pay.
David Mead, chief executive of Future Proof, was quoted as saying that his company had wanted to bring an easy-to-use price-comparison site to help vapers save money. “The biggest winners are people who have only been vaping and people who have not been using tobacco products for at least 12 months,” he said.
Meanwhile, a UKVIA spokesperson described the initiative as “fantastic news for vapers all across the UK who will finally be given fair treatment”…
“Vaping has been recognised as being at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking and it is a great sign to see the insurance market is finally acknowledging this evidence and is moving away from treating vapers as smokers.”
The vaper friendly life insurance comparison site is here: https://www.futureproofinsurance.co.uk/life-insurance-for-vapers.
October 10, 2018
Hong Kong to ban e-cigs
Hong Kong is set to ban electronic cigarettes and other ‘new tobacco products’, according to a story in the South China Morning Post.
The territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, was expected to announce the ban during a policy address today setting out about 250 initiatives.
The ban represents a U-turn by the government, which had previously proposed only to restrict the sale of such products to minors.
The Post reported that it had been told by ‘sources’ that the ban would cover e-cigarettes and other alternative products, such as heat-not-burn and herbal cigarettes.
Until now, the government had committed only to regulating e-cigarettes in the same way as conventional tobacco products are regulated, but health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee left the door open for “more stringent measures”, depending on what medical evidence had to say about the health implications of these products.
However, a source familiar with the Food and Health Bureau expressed shock at the move, saying the previous administration had listed many technical problems with implementing a full ban.
Former health chief Dr. Ko Wing-man had intended to introduce a total ban in 2016, but studies by related departments suggested that such a move would be “quite problematic”.
Christine Hu, spokeswoman for the Coalition on Tobacco Affairs, an umbrella group of tobacco producers, said last night that she was upset by the proposal because it would boost the underground market for these products and fail to protect those under 18.
She said the Coalition was disappointed by the government’s “selective and blind adoption of views expressed by certain groups”, and disappointed that it had ignored opinions from the industry and scientific data from overseas.
October 10, 2018
'Highly successful' show
The Tax-free World Association (TFWA) says it is celebrating what it describes as ‘another highly successful TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, at which numbers reflected ‘the buoyant mood across the conference and exhibition halls’.
The TFWA World Exhibition & Conference was held at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France, between September 30 and October 5.
In a press note, the TFWA reported that a record 7,015 visitors had attended the event, up three percent on the attendance at the 2017 event.
The visitors had represented 3,088 companies, up two percent on the figure of last year.
‘Strong statistics from the exhibition also bore witness to the healthy position of the duty-free and travel retail industry,’ the press note said.
‘An extension of the Beach Village saw exhibition floor space increase to 22,759 m², up from 22,607 m² last year.
‘The number of exhibitors also grew slightly from 514 in 2017 to 516, across 496 stands compared with 490 last year. Of these, 50 exhibitors were new or returning to the event, while 14 official boats were moored in Harbour Village.
‘The opening conference was attended by an impressive 1,676 delegates, up two percent on last year.
‘On Tuesday morning, the Digital Focus Workshop attracted 310 attendees, surpassing the turnout of 237 attendees at last year’s event.
‘The Inflight Focus Workshop, held on Wednesday morning, also had a standout showing, and was attended by 243 delegates compared with 195 last year.’
October 10, 2018
Marketing change
Kingsley Wheaton, currently Regional Director, Americas and Sub Saharan Africa (AMSSA) at British American Tobacco will take up the role of chief marketing officer on January 1.
In a note posted on its website, BAT said that Wheaton had been with the company for 22 years and had been a member of the Management Board for nearly seven years. ‘Having held several senior roles in marketing and general management, Kingsley joined the Management Board as Director, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in 2012,’ the note said. ‘In 2015 he was appointed as managing director, Next Generation Products before taking on his current role as regional director, AMSSA in November 2017.’
An announcement regarding Wheaton’s successor as regional director AMSSA is to be made ‘in due course’.
BAT’s current chief marketing officer, Andrew Gray, is due to step down from the management board at the end of December and to leave BAT on March 31.
October 10, 2018
JTI calls for dialogue
Japan Tobacco International says that new European research shows that policies based on evidence and dialogue are needed to restore public trust in policy-making.
The company’s comments, posted on its website yesterday, follow the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was held in Geneva last week.
JTI said that new research it had commissioned had revealed that the public wanted regulators to be open to dialogue with business, and that more fairness and credible evidence was needed in policy-making.
The research, conducted in Europe by Populus with Ipsos as fieldwork provider, found that of the 8,473 respondents surveyed across eight European countries, an average of:
* ’72 percent believed that it is either very important or somewhat important that the policy-making process is open to dialogue between governmental authorities and all parties who are potentially impacted by it, including businesses;
* ’79 percent believed that it is either very important or somewhat important that a policy should be introduced based on credible evidence of its effectiveness, instead of a biased assumption it will work.
* ’76 percent would protect the principle of free speech; either actively fighting for the right of someone they disagree with to speak, or passively agreeing with someone they disagree with’s right to express their opinion.’
JTI said that proceedings at the FCTC COP’s ‘echo chamber’ differed hugely from those of other UN decision-making bodies such at the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] on Climate Change, where businesses were an integral part of discussions, and plenary sessions were public.
‘Today’s new research shows that the public want politicians and officials to consider all the facts and viewpoints – including from businesses,’ it said. ‘Ousting one group of companies from giving their views and sharing their expertise contradicts basic democratic principles and is counterproductive.
‘The same can be said of discussions on harm reduction at COP8 last week. Thanks to innovation and advances in science, JTI offers products that have the potential to reduce risks associated with smoking and the company would have been well placed to take part in those discussions. Yet, it appears that the FCTC COP still has an obsolete conception of tobacco companies.’
Jonathan Duce, head of external communications at JTI’s global headquarters in Geneva, was quoted as saying that the public were right that all views must be heard.
“The FCTC COP would have been wise to follow their advice last week, because governments can only make good decisions once they have taken everyone’s views into account,” he said. “The findings of this research are clear: more must be done by governments around the world to restore public confidence in the regulators who make the rules we all abide by. This research has shone a light on what citizens expect from decision making and shows that people only want policies if they are supported by credible evidence and proven to be effective.”
October 9, 2018
Vaping to get public airing
A public debate on EU vaping regulations is to be held in Brussels from 08.00 to 09.30 on November 6, according to the organizer, The Parliament Magazine.
The debate will aim to gain insight into the demands of smokers and vapers, and what role regulators should play in enabling innovation while ensuring quality and product safety.
The debate, which is being hosted by the UK member of the European Parliament, David Campbell Bannerman, and supported by Japan Tobacco International, is due to address novel tobacco products and electronic cigarettes as alternatives to traditional cigarettes for nicotine delivery.
The Magazine said the increase in popularity of such alternative products had become the subject of a political debate about their regulation: whether they should be accepted as alternatives to traditional tobacco products or banned. ‘Even in the European Union, where the TPD2 [the revised Tobacco Products Directive] provides a clear regulatory framework for these products, the attitude towards vaping varies from member state to member state,’ the Magazine said.
‘Unanimously, the public debate is centred around the potential and evidenced benefits for consumer and public health. But one should not look at their risk reduction potential in isolation. For society and public health, in particular, to tap into the full potential of this new category consumers not only need to accept novel nicotine delivery systems but also their broad spectrum of benefits.
‘Do we really know what users are looking for? What are the drivers behind this fiercely consumer-led category?
‘Reduced-risk potential is an important, if not the most important aspect, however, consumers are increasingly interested in products that address a broadening spectrum of personal and social needs.
‘This panel discussion between high profile experts will explore and investigate a broad array of consumer motivators currently less considered and therefore underrepresented by policy making.’
Speakers are due to be announced soon.
To register interest, potential participants should contact: EUevents@dodsgroup.com; 0044 207 593 5560; 0044 207 593 5672.
October 9, 2018
Regulatory short-cut sought
Delegates at the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), have recommended regulating heat-not-burn products in the same way as combustible cigarettes are regulated, according to an Agence France Presse story relayed by the TMA.
COP8 was held in Geneva on October 1-6.
Such regulation would ban the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of heat-not-burn products, which many people see as providing effective, safer alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
The recommendation is not legally binding and will serve only as a guideline.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is due to host the COP9 meeting in 2020, according to a report in the NL Times, relayed by the TMA and citing a WHO announcement made at the closing ceremony of COP8.
The Netherlands’ State Secretary of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports Paul Blokhuis took the initiative to bring the conference to the Netherlands.
Reportedly, he is considering Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague or Utrecht to host the conference.
“Around two hundred countries and organizations come together at this conference to curb the tobacco industry’s influence, to discourage smoking worldwide and, for example, to limit the damage of tobacco to the environment as much as possible”, Blokhuis said.
“It is very good news that we are the next host country. That also brings the smoke-free generation one step closer. Both in the Netherlands and globally.”
October 9, 2018