Category: Regulation

Cigarette traders jailed
Three people in Fiji have been jailed for failing to pay fines imposed on them for selling loose cigarettes, according to a story in The Fiji Sun Online.
Altogether, since July last year, 400 people are said to have been booked and issued with spot fines for failing to comply with tobacco control regulations.
The story said that the ‘strong and effective’ measures implemented by the government had led to a major decline in smoking among teenagers, as measured by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).
The current smoking prevalence rate among 13-15-year-olds in Fiji was said to be 5.1 percent: 6.8 percent in the case of males and 3.4 percent in the case of females.
The GYTS report of 1995 put the smoking rate among this age group at 10.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the story reported that the Ministry of Health and Medical Services had declared eight villages, 39 village community halls, a number of workplaces and all major markets tobacco free.
The ministry is now reviewing current tobacco legislation with an eye to making further amendments in relation to outdoor smoking restrictions and the illegal trade in tobacco products.
October 27, 2017
Retailers face jail threat
South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family yesterday announced that it would be designating heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco products as harmful devices that may not be sold to minors, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
Under current regulations, restrictions on the sale of vapor devices to minors apply only to electronic cigarettes.
There are no restrictions on HNB systems.
Once the new rules go into effect, those who sell HNB products to minors will be subject to a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won ($26,670).
October 27, 2017
E-cig consultation launched
The Science and Technology Committee of the UK Parliament has launched a public consultation to ‘examine the impact of electronic cigarettes on human health (including their effectiveness as a stop-smoking tool), the suitability of regulations guiding their use, and the financial implications of a growing market on both business and the NHS’, according to a Bloomberg News story relayed by the TMA, and a report by Sarah Knapton for telegraph.co.uk.
The chair of the committee, Norman Lamb MP, said that almost three million people in the UK now used e-cigarettes, but that there were still significant gaps in the research guiding their regulation and sale.
“They are seen by some as valuable tools that will reduce the number of people smoking ‘conventional’ cigarettes, and seen by others as ‘re-normalising’ smoking for the younger generation,” Lamb said.
“We want to understand where the gaps are in the evidence base, the impact of the regulations, and the implications of this growing industry on NHS costs and the UK’s public finances.”
Written submissions will be accepted until December 8.
October 26, 2017
Macau creates gray area
Starting from January, tobacco smoking is to be banned within 10 meters of Macau’s bus stops, according to a story in The Macau Daily Times.
The Health Bureau (SSM) director, Lei Chin Ion, said the SSM would co-ordinate with the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) to delineate the boundaries of non-smoking areas.
According to Lei, the border will be marked with a gray line to make it easy for the public and law enforcement officers to identify the tobacco-free areas.
‘Related work’ is said to have started already and is due to be completed before the end of the year.
Asked whether a person passing a bus stop while smoking would be performing an illegal act, Lei said that such a person should put out their cigarette before entering a smoke-free zone. Currently, he said, people were unable to avoid second-hand smoke.
At the same time, Lei admitted that smoking was not a crime and that it was difficult to put an end to it. The government could only try its best to control smoking through public education and enhanced law enforcement.
According to the SSM, in most of the world, law enforcement can reduce the use of tobacco by only about 20 percent. The remaining 80 percent mainly stems from publicity and education.
The SSM said that it would continue to conduct anti-smoking inspections.
In addition, the bureau said that some tobacco-control associations would use Facebook and WeChat, along with other new media sources, to collect the public’s reports of cases of illegal smoking.
October 26, 2017
Tobacco under pressure
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has said that Turkey’s oriental tobacco is being eradicated, according to a story by Zülfikar Doğan for Al-Monitor.
“In 2002, 405,882 families were making a living from tobacco,” said Kılıçdaroğlu during a CHP [Republican People’s Party, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi] parliamentary meeting. “In 2015, that shrunk to 56,000. We gave up growing our own tobacco. Foreigners began importing, and as of 2012, Turkey suddenly became a net tobacco importer.”
Another problem, Kılıçdaroğlu said, concerned cigarette taxation, which stood at 84 percent and which had caused a sharp rise in the number of people rolling their own cigarettes.
The story reported that Turkey’s farmers, livestock producers and their related unions were emerging as a new and unexpected mass opposition in the country, staging rallies and marches to protest against sustained heavy economic losses.
Meanwhile, in the tobacco sector, growers are said to have reacted with fury to threats of heavy prison sentences and fines.
Tobacco growers have protested against new regulations restricting how, where and when Turks can produce tobacco.
The aim of the legislation was said to be aimed at preventing tobacco smuggling.
But the Tobacco Experts Association said that with the new restrictions, thousands of tobacco growers would be facing years in jail and heavy fines.
The association expressed opposition also to the liberalization of electronic cigarettes and alleged that the new regulations were drafted in line with wishes of foreign cigarette companies and would soon mean the end of the local tobacco industry.
The full story is at: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/10/turkey-farmers-protest-against-government-policies.html.
October 24, 2017
Growers have their say
Tobacco growers around the world are concerned about the implementation of inappropriate tobacco-control measures, and they are particularly concerned about a proposal by the US Food and Drug Administration to reduce the nicotine delivery levels of cigarettes.
Representatives of tobacco-grower organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Macedonia, Malawi, South Africa, Turkey, the US, Zambia and Zimbabwe met in Greece on October 17 for the annual meeting of the International Tobacco Growers’ Association.
The representatives said growers were aware of the efforts that had to be made to improve tobacco production and sustainability, and to address challenges such as child labour and deforestation. Growers were committed to working in a compliant manner, following good agriculture practices, to produce a crop that supplied a legal market of more than 900 million consumers and that provided a livelihood to millions of farmers, rural workers and their families around the world.
In a note posted on its website, the ITGA said growers accepted the need to regulate the consumption of tobacco products, but insisted that regulatory measures should be balanced and based on science, not on personal opinions. It was vital to prevent the implementation of measures that had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of millions of tobacco farmers and labourers without achieving any of the desired aims of tobacco control.
Growers were said to be particularly concerned with the recent proposal by the FDA to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes. This measure would influence policy makers outside the US and the effect of it would be felt by the most vulnerable part of the tobacco value chain, the growers. The reduction of nicotine, said the growers, would make the production and sale of traditional cigarettes almost impossible, pushing consumers to illicit products that did not respect such limits. Demand for legal tobacco would drop sharply without an alternative plan being in place for tobacco growers.
Those attending the meeting in Greece agreed that a platform that included all relevant stakeholders, including health authorities, should be set up to discuss this issue and seek solutions. But they seemed not to be optimistic.
‘The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) keeps excluding growers and their representatives from the discussions being held about matters having a direct impact on tobacco production and, therefore, on growers’ livelihoods,’ the note said. ‘Growers are a legitimate part of this process and they have been asking for their inclusion into the FCTC’s debates.
‘Many of the subjects being debated in the FCTC meetings concern tobacco growers across the world. ‘More specifically articles 17 and 18 relate directly to tobacco production as they refer to alternatives to tobacco production and the environmental impact of tobacco growing.
‘Growers have been offering their help and their expertise to define measures that will directly affect their future. The legitimate growers’ representatives could have helped the government delegations attending FCTC meetings to have a much more realistic view of the present situation of tobacco growing around the world.
‘Growers insist that the WHO FCTC must return to its original mandate under Article 17, as was reiterated at the previous Conference of the Parties (COP6) in Moscow. Said COP6 reaffirmed the importance of carrying out studies and research to identify alternative crops that could provide a level of income and assured export markets equal to those provided by tobacco. For this reason, it was agreed upon that pilot projects in tobacco-growing regions would be necessary to demonstrate the long-term feasibility of such alternative crops.’
Since the beginning of the FCTC negotiations, growers have requested that:
- their right to be consulted on the development of policies which have a direct impact on them must be guaranteed;
- the significant economic contribution of the tobacco crop to the economies of tobacco-growing countries should be recognized; and
- a comprehensive economic study on the market should be conducted and taken into account when proposing measures.
October 23, 2017
‘Hypocrisy’ highlighted
Canada’s National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) said on Friday that it was highlighting the hypocrisy evident in Ontario’s Cannabis Legalization Enforcement Summit. The emphasis at the summit was being placed on enforcement measures to prepare for the legalisation of cannabis, it said, while calls for a similar enforcement approach to the province’s booming contraband tobacco trade had not been heeded.
“A co-ordinated, multi-stakeholder approach to enforcement will be an important component of the province’s effort to address cannabis, which makes the need for a similar initiative for Ontario’s well entrenched contraband tobacco market all the clearer,” said Gary Grant, the national spokesperson for the NCACT. “The participation of multiple stakeholder groups and different levels of government in this discussion is something we’ve been advocating for in relation to the country’s illegal cigarette problem, which is by far the worst in Ontario.”
The NCACT said Ontario had the worst contraband tobacco market in Canada, with more than one in three cigarettes sold in the province being illicit, a rate that had barely budged for several years.
‘In Northern Ontario, the contraband rate is more than 60 percent,’ the NCACT said in a press note. ‘Illegal cigarettes are cheap and readily available costing as little as $8 for a baggie of 200 cigarettes, $70 or more less than legal product. They are available directly from smugglers or hundreds of unlicensed retail smoke shacks. The RCMP has identified 175 criminal gangs involved in the contraband trade, which use the revenues to fund guns, drugs and human smuggling.’
“The approach Ontario has taken to addressing the illegal marijuana market – enforcement and acknowledging impact of price – is the same that would be effective against illegal cigarettes,” said Grant. “We hope we can count on the government to give both of these issues the amount of the attention they deserve.”
October 23, 2017
FDA offers disaster relief
The US Food and Drug Administration is making concessions, including extending compliance deadlines, for tobacco manufacturers, importers and retailers affected by recent natural disasters.
In a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products, the FDA said it recognized that recent natural disasters had affected several areas. ‘Multiple hurricanes have devastated parts of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and hurricanes and wildfires have affected parts of the continental United States,’ it said. ‘FDA is announcing several actions regarding industry in the affected areas.’
The note said the FDA was aware that tobacco manufacturers and importers in the affected areas were dealing with extraordinary circumstances and might need additional time to meet certain requirements. ‘As a result, FDA is extending the compliance deadlines for the ingredient listing and health document submission requirements by an additional six months for manufacturers and importers of deemed products in the areas affected by these recent natural disasters,’ the note said.
The FDA advised those with questions about the new compliance deadlines to visit: SmallBiz.Tobacco@fda.hhs.gov or 1.877.287.1373.
And it said those seeking further details and a complete list of the affected areas should visit: https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/NewsEvents/ucm579265.htm
Meanwhile, the note said that the FDA understood that many retailers that sell tobacco products in the affected areas were not operational. ‘The agency is working to determine appropriate actions to take, including temporarily suspending enforcement activities in areas where there has been a disaster declaration,’ it said.
‘FDA will continue to monitor and assess the impact of the natural disasters and recovery efforts in these states and territories.’
The FDA advised those with questions about enforcement policies for areas affected by recent natural disasters to visit: SmallBiz.Tobacco@fda.hhs.gov or 1.877.287.1373.
October 19, 2017
Antis nose around homes
Anti-tobacco campaigners in Scotland are pushing for new measures that could prevent smokers from lighting up at home, according to a story by Colin McNeill for the Herald Scotland.
ASH Scotland wants to hold talks with social housing providers to explore ways of introducing no-smoking rules for some tenants.
It wants to look also at how legislation surrounding smoking in residential care homes could be tightened to protect staff from passive smoking.
The move has been boosted by a call from Aberdeen University academic Dr. Sean Semple for a national debate around smoking at home.
“We need to have a debate on why we currently think it acceptable to expose non-smokers, including children, to second-hand tobacco smoke within indoor spaces,” he said. “That debate needs to include smoking in the home.”
However, the smokers’ group Forest was said to have branded any attempt to stop people from smoking in a home setting as “obnoxious”, adding that it would constitute a gross invasion of privacy and be almost impossible to enforce.
“Targeting social housing is particularly obnoxious because it penalises unfairly those who can’t afford to buy their own home,” Forest director Simon Clark was quoted as saying. “Prohibiting smoking at home would be almost impossible to enforce but it could create a snooper’s charter encouraging people to snitch on neighbours they don’t like.
“What happens if someone is caught and prosecuted? The consequences, including possible eviction, are out of all proportion to the alleged offence.”
Meanwhile, a Japan Times story on Monday reported how a by-law aimed at protecting children from passive smoking – including in private places such as their homes – had been enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.
What was said to be the first prefecture-level measure of its kind calls on people not to smoke inside rooms or vehicles in which children under 18 are present.
The by-law, which carries no penalties, calls on Tokyoites to try to ensure that children are not subjected to passive smoking anywhere. It calls on parents not to smoke in rooms where children are present.
October 18, 2017
Prohibition a step closer
A by-law aimed at protecting children from passive smoking – including in private places such as their homes – has been enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Japan, according to an editorial in the Japan Times.
What is said to be the first prefecture-level measure of its kind calls on people not to smoke inside rooms or vehicles in which children under 18 are present.
The by-law calls on Tokyoites to try to ensure that children are not subjected to passive smoking anywhere. It calls on parents not to smoke in rooms where children are present. Parents are urged not to let children enter facilities that have no measures to prevent passive smoking or designated smoking sections. In addition, the by-law calls on people not to smoke inside cars in which children are riding, on streets near parks, plazas, schools and facilities promoting children’s welfare, and similar facilities. And it calls on people not to smoke on streets within seven meters of pediatric clinics or dental clinics for children.
Although the by-law is not backed by penalties, the editorial described it a meaningful step forward that other local governments should follow.
The editorial said that the by-law sought to protect the health of children through the ‘Law on Prevention of Child Abuse’.
It was endorsed by all parties in the assembly except the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In that sense, it was said to be a product of an assembly election in July, in which Tomin First, promising to seek measures against passive smoking, upstaged the LDP as the largest party.
The LDP opposed the by-law on the grounds that regulating people’s private lives, such as their smoking habits at home, required careful discussion.
It said the by-law, which is due to take effect in April, was being hastily enacted.
How it is observed by Tokyo residents will be reviewed after one year.
October 16, 2017