Tag: display ban

  • Retailers Push to Delay Display Ban

    Retailers Push to Delay Display Ban

    Photo: Heorshe

    The Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia (FSGMA) has asked the government to postpone a ban on displaying tobacco products at retail outlets, reports The Star.

    The Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 requires sellers to store tobacco products out of view starting April 1, 2025. The FSGMA has calculated that implementing the ban could cost its members up to MYR300 million ($70 million).

    “Each store will have to invest significant resources into making physical modifications to hide these products from customers, but the government has not offered financial assistance or a phased rollout,” said FSGMA President Hong Chee Meng.

    The organization reckons each retailer would incur up to MYR6,000 to comply with the display ban, putting financial strain especially on small, family-run businesses.

    Hong said the association is also concerned that the display ban will encourage the rise of illegal cigarettes and vape products as legitimate products will be hidden from view. What’s more, according to Hong, the lack of clear instructions has left retailers unsure about how to implement the ban.

    “Many have raised concerns about the need for additional staff to manage concealed products and the potential disruption to customer service,” he said. “Retailers deserve to know how to comply, and we deserve time and support to implement these changes.”

  • Scotland May Consider Display Ban for Vapes

    Scotland May Consider Display Ban for Vapes

    Credit: Paolo Giovanni

    A lawmaker in Scotland wants to ban the public display of e-cigarettes in retail shops. Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay wants retailers to treat them in the same way as cigarettes and hide them from view.

    “This is beyond the days of smoking behind the bike sheds—this is a multi-million industry leading the nation’s health down a path to disaster,” Mackay said. “It is a ticking time bomb, and, until we know more, that’s not a risk I or anyone else should be asked to accept.”

    She has written to shops and vape manufacturers ahead of taking her campaign to the Scottish Parliament, according to the Daily Record.

    Mackay, the Green Party’s health spokesman, said there is growing concern that the number of underage people being attracted by “deliberately sweet-toothed tactics” to market products is spiraling.

    She is calling on retailers to lead by example by writing to them urging that they hide the products from view.

  • Display ban to be imposed

    Netherlands photoThe Dutch government is working on draft legislative that would ban the retail display of tobacco products, according to a statement given to parliament by the State Secretary of Public Health Martin van Rijn, as reported by Janene Pieters for the NL Times.

    Van Rijn was said to have given the involved industry associations until December 15 to come up with their own proposals, but their plans were deemed to be inadequate.

    Van Rijn said the organizations had not gone far enough with their plans.

    The NSO, the organization representing tobacconists and convenience stores, was said to have proposed to ban facade advertising from 2020, while proposals by representatives of service stations foresaw a partial display ban by the middle of 2019.

    Because the organizations’ proposals had not met parliament’s demand for a display ban, the government would come with a legislative proposal to do so, Van Rijn said.