More than two years after the government in Nepal decided that tobacco-package health warnings should be increased in size, the requirement has not been implemented effectively, according to a story in The Himalayan Times.
In part, at least, this has to do with the fact that the requirement is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
A 2011 law requiring that health warnings covered 75 percent of tobacco packaging was amended 25 months ago to lift the coverage to 90 percent.
Dr. Tara Singh Bam, the deputy regional director at the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, said that, as per the law, pictorial warnings should be included on the front, back, top, and both sides of every tobacco package. There were five pictures and corresponding text warnings that should be rotated every six months, he said.
Bam added that some tobacco companies were not abiding by the requirements of the law, and he urged the government to take action against those companies.
Dr. Pushpa Chaudhary, secretary at the Ministry of Health, said the responsibility of the Ministry was to draft the bill; it did not have the right to take action against companies not abiding by the law.
But Narayan Prasad Bhandari, director at the Inland Revenue Department, said the Department had already warned the companies of stringent action if they failed to abide by the law.
However, a complicating factor is that a tobacco company is challenging the government’s new law in the Supreme Court, and whereas the hearing had been scheduled for April 18, it has been delayed.
“The Supreme Court has issued a stay order in the case, so we haven’t taken any action against the companies,” said Bhandari. “The issue of revenue collection was also one of the reasons for not taking action against them.”
Tag: Nepal
Warnings not implemented
Nepal to enforce ban
Kathmandu’s Metropolitan authorities are implementing an 18-month ‘Healthy City Program’ aimed at cracking down on the use of tobacco in public places, according to a story in The Kathmandu Post.
Unveiling the plan on Friday, Mayor Bidhya Sundhar Shakya said there would be no compromises in implementing the program.
“In a bid to control its [tobacco’s] massive use, the government has made it expensive,” said Shakya. “The government makes a good income through it. But public are paying higher amount for their treatment.”
He said the campaign would make clear that smoking and consuming tobacco in public places was punishable.
The existing Tobacco Product (Control and Regulatory) Act-2011 bans smoking in public places such as government and company offices, parks, libraries, airports, public vehicles, childcare centers, cinema halls, hotels, restaurants, department stores, young people’s hostels, industrial and religious sites.
However, the Act has been allowed to become generally ineffective.
Although in February 2016 the city authorities started a crackdown that resulted in the booking of nearly 1,000 people, the drive quickly ran out of puff.
The city authorities say, however, that this time the program will be more effective.
The city’s Public Health Department chief, Hari Kumar Shrestha, said that to control the use of tobacco, a committee of 15-16 people would be formed in all wards to undertake a door-to-door awareness program.
The World Health Organization’s Tobacco Free Initiative has provided Rs10 million to conduct the Healthy City Program in Kathmandu.
If it enforces the ban, Kathmandu will become the 50th city to implement the program.Control strategy launched
Nepal’s Ministry of Health has launched the Tobacco Products Control Convention Strategy – 2030 with the objective of reducing tobacco consumption in the long term, according to a story in The Himalayan Times.
The Times said it was believed that the strategy would provide guidelines for the development and implementation of tobacco control programs by policy makers, service providers, related government ministries and bodies, and national and international non-governmental organizations.
The strategy, which is said to incorporate various tobacco-control measures, such as monitoring tobacco consumption, declaring more public places smoke-free, and motivating people to give up tobacco, was prepared by the ministry’s National Health Education, Information and Communications Center. It was launched on Friday by the Minister for Health Deepak Bohara during an event organized by the Center in Kathmandu.
Addressing the event, Bohara expressed confidence that the strategy would be a milestone in controlling tobacco products. He said there was a need for inter-ministry co-ordination for the implementation of the strategy at local, provincial and federal levels.
Nepal signed up to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on December 3, 2003, and ratified it on November 7, 2006.Warnings up to 90 percent
The government of Nepal is aiming to require that tobacco manufacturers include 90-percent graphic health warnings on their products from 2018, according to a story in The Kathmandu Post
The requirement would be aimed at discouraging tobacco consumption.
But it was not clear from the story how far along the road were plans for the new warnings.
Addressing an event in the capital entitled, the South Asian leadership training for the control of tobacco products, the Minister for Health, Gagan Kumar Thapa, said the Nepal government aimed to build a tobacco-free generation by 2030.
He said he believed that requiring graphic health warnings on tobacco products would reduce demand for such products and contribute to creating a healthier society.
And he added that those warnings should take up 90 percent the packaging – presumably 90 percent of the main surfaces.
At the same time, on the recommendation of the World Bank and the World Health Organization, the government is said to be planning to hike excise duty and value added tax for tobacco products.
The minister said also that the government was working to raise the minimum legal age to 21 years for buying and using tobacco products, a provision that would be in place by 2018.
Nepal: Cigarettes in short supply as result of wholesaler hoarding
Several popular brands of cigarettes are in short supply in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley due to hoarding and black-marketing by some wholesalers, according to Republica. Some wholesalers have begun to hoard cigarettes following media reports that the government was planning to hike excise duty on cigarettes through the budget for fiscal year 2015-2016. In addition to reducing supply, some wholesalers are also accused of raising prices in an arbitrary manner.
“It is very difficult to get [cigarettes] as per our demand,” retailer Ram Kumar Rai told Republica. “Not only are wholesalers reducing supply, they are also overcharging us for cigarettes.”
Rai said he was charged npr50 ($0.44) more for a box of Surya cigarettes containing 10 packets. “The wholesaler asked me to pay npr1,450 for a box of cigarettes which cost only npr1,400,” he said.
Retailer Madhav Timalsina, of Sundhara, paid npr1,500 for the same pack. “Wholesalers have been overcharging us, citing short supply,” he told Republica. “We are not getting cigarettes as per our demand, as wholesalers are hoarding them anticipating duty hike in upcoming budget.”
Meanwhile, manufacturers maintain that they have not reduced the supply of cigarettes.
“We have increased supply by around 10 percent recently,” Ravi KC, vice president of Surya Nepal, told Republica. “Our authorized dealers and cycle-boys have not reported us about shortage and hoarding of cigarettes.”
Department of Commerce and Supply Management officials have vowed to intensify market monitoring and to take action against anyone found guilty of hoarding cigarettes or participating in black-marketing.
Nepal moratorium on Gutka factories
The Industrial Promotion Board (IPB) in Nepal announced an indefinite moratorium on the registration of new gutka manufacturing units after figures from the Inland Revenue Department showed only 150 of 455 registered gutka factories pay taxes, reports Kantipur Online.
Following India’s April 2011 directive banning the sale of gutka in plastic pouches, Indian gutka producers have shifted their operations to border towns in Nepal’s Terai region.
An IPB task force will investigate the gutka industry and submit recommendations within two months.
According to the customs’ department, local manufacturers exported 361,000 tons of gutka in the first five months of fiscal year 2013, more than three times the amount exported in fiscal year 2012.
Former Nepalese factory workers pay demands derailed
The government of Nepal is unlikely to meet all of the pay demands of former workers at the Janakpur Cigarette factory, according to a story in the Daily Republica. The factory, which was established in 1965 with the support of the Russian government, has been closed for two years.
It used to manufacture popular brands of cigarettes such as Yak, Gaida and Deurali. However, with the entry of Surya Tobacco into the market, its near monopoly ended and it started incurring losses. By the end of 2010-11, the company had a cumulative loss of Rs170.80 million.
The factory cited the use of obsolete machines as one of the reasons leading to its collapse. But other factors were said to include unnecessary political intervention in the factory’s operation, the appointment of its chief and general overstaffing.
“The government is positive about demands placed by workers, but it may not be able to fulfill all of them,” an official at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) was quoted as saying. “The government will sit again with workers who are anticipating early launch of the voluntary retirement scheme to settle the issue.”
According to the official, it would cost the government about Rs2.6 billion to meet the workers’ demands and provide severance packages to employees who want to retire voluntarily from their jobs. This amount is higher than the Rs1.26 billion calculated by the government based on existing rules.
Earlier, a team formed by the MoF to assess the economic viability, liabilities and assets of the factory, valued its assets at about Rs10 billion and its liabilities at about Rs2.3 billion.
