Bangkok--22 Nov--124 Communications Consulting
Today the Thai Tobacco Trade Association (TTTA) urged the Ministry of Public Health to abandon plans for extreme tobacco regulation currently under consultation. The proposed Tobacco Consumption Control Act (TCCA) would create excessive burdens on retailers, hurt businesses, lower their income and impact the livelihood of small retailers.
Mrs. Varaporn Namatra, TTTA Executive Director, said, “The TTTA and its more than 1,300 retailers, wholesalers, and distributors across Thailand are deeply concerned that this proposal. The draft is overly broad, ambiguous and gives the MOPH too much authority to issue future regulations without public consultation or review by the parliament.”
“Provisions such as requiring retailers to submit costly annual reports, restricting the age of sales clerks, requiring retailers participate in anti-smoking campaigns or restricting the display of prices, will create operational burdens and drive up costs for retailers. The TCCA would also prohibit major retailers from partnering with government agencies to conduct charitable programs, such as providing disaster relief support in response to flooding,” Mrs. Varaporn added.
In fact, according to a new poll conducted by Ipsos-Thailand on behalf of TTTA, an overwhelming majority of retailers (78 percent) believe that new extreme tobacco regulation will hurt their businesses. Instead of introducing new extreme regulations, 72% of retailers think more education and 50% believe that better enforcement of current laws should be more effective in reducing smoking rates.
Commenting on the poll Executive Director Namatra said, “At a time when retailers see economic conditions worsening next year, the Government would be wrong to experiment with costly tobacco regulation which will hurt retailers, but do very little — if nothing at all — to reduce smoking levels. As a consequence, the Government should instead focus on measures that are proven to reduce smoking levels, such as better education and existing laws enforcement.”
TCCA provisions would also open the door to plain packaging, removing all forms of branding—trademarks, logos, colors, and graphics — except for the brand name written in standardized font on the package.
Retailers believe that this would have a significant negative impact, not least increasing the illicit trade in tobacco. Negative consequences of plain packaging include:
82% of retailers state that day-to-day activities, such as placing orders, inventory management, stocking, and serving customers will be more complicated84% of retailers believe that because all packs will look the same and be easier to counterfeit, resulting in an increase in fake cigarettes82% of retailers think that plain packaging will lead to an increase in branded packs being smuggled into Thailand“Under existing laws there have been 47 government regulations, notifications or rules issued aimed at controlling tobacco. It’s clear that there is not a need for more laws, but rather there is a need to devote more resources towards education and enforcement of the existing laws,” concluded Executive Director Namatra.
The retailer poll, conducted by Ipsos-Thailand, is the property of the Thailand Tobacco Trade Association. It is based on a telephone online poll interviewing one thousand small retailer shop owners and store managers all across Thailand between 24 September 2012 and 14 October 2012.
The Thai Tobacco Trade Association was established in January 2012 with the main objective to reflect the perspectives of tobacco retailers, wholesalers, distributors, logistic providers and importers towards important issues related to the tobacco industry. For more information, please visit TTTA’s website, www.ttta.or.th.
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