Kenya opposes proposed Canadian tobacco law

Kenya has joined Tanzania to oppose a proposed Canadian law that seeks to ban flavours and additives in cigarettes in a bid to protect children from picking up the smoking habit.

Canada’s Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act proposes to prohibit these in tobacco products, with the exception of menthol. The Bill would also put an end to all tobacco advertising in outlets that may be viewed or read by young people.

In a written complaint to the World Trade Organisation, Kenya says measures that restrict blended cigarettes would have a detrimental effect on the country’s tobacco production and finished goods exports.

The government says that issues with the Canadian law could easily be resolved by equally effective but less trade-restrictive alternatives that would address the objective of the legislation but also ensure compliance with the country’s obligations under the TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) Agreement. 

“While Kenya fully supports the purpose of the law, the approach taken in the proposed law is far too trade-restrictive than necessary to address the problem of youth smoking encouraged by candy and fruit flavoured tobacco products,” the government said. “Kenya looks forward to Canada’s response to the concerns we have raised.”

The government said that as a tobacco growing and manufacturing country, Kenya is concerned about the possible effects by the enactment of the Act on its tobacco leaf manufacturing and exports.

It says the law is inconsistent with Canada’s obligations under the GATT 1994 and WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and would have a negative effect on Kenya’s long term economic prospects.

The government says Kenya is a significant producer of tobacco leaf in the world, with an approximate annual crop volume of 20 million kilogrammes from approximately 40,000 farmers.

Tanzania says its delegation to the World Trade Organisation would appeal against the proposed law, saying that if implemented it would affect tobacco farmers around the world.

The government said the law would effectively ban the manufacture and sale of traditional blended cigarettes and would thereby indirectly significantly reduce imports of the light air-cured burley and oriental tobacco used in such cigarettes.

Opening the International Tobacco Growers Association meeting in Zanzibar last week, Tanzania Agriculture ministry permanent secretary Mohamed Muya said: “We are taking this step aware of the potential harm to the demand for our tobacco if the Canadian articles find their way into the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control.”

Kenya’s document says the country understands that the spirit and purpose of the law is to reduce the incidence of youth smoking by prohibiting the manufacture and sale of confectionery and fruit-flavoured tobacco products that Canada believes are designed to appeal to youth.

“Whereas Kenya fully supports this noble and moral objective, she is deeply concerned that the law is far more trade-restrictive than necessary to achieve this goal,” the government said in a document WTO distributed to its members.

Kenya is specifically concerned that the law effectively bans “traditional blended” cigarettes. It notes that this is one of the two major categories of cigarettes. They are made with three types of tobacco, Virginia, burley and oriental, and blended with certain additives that the Bill now seeks to prohibit. 

Merely applied

“Additives are an essential component of traditional blended cigarettes,” the government said. “They are merely applied as manufacturing aids to blend the three different types of tobaccos and as flavourings to confer on each brand its unique tobacco taste.”

Additives in traditional blended cigarettes do not lend a characteristic fruit or confectionery flavour to the end product, the government paper said.

But by banning the additives, the law effectively prohibits the traditional blended cigarettes, even though they do not exhibit any discernible confectionery, fruit or other flavour that is particularly attractive to youth, the government argues.

Kenya says that Canada has not cited any evidence to show that traditional blended cigarettes are any more attractive to youth than flue-cured cigarettes, nor has Ottawa provided any evidence demonstrating that traditional blended cigarettes are as attractive to youth as candy or fruit-flavoured products. 

“If Canada is concerned with flavours that are particularly appealing to youth, there are less trade-restrictive ways to deal with the problem,” the government says. “For example, Canada could only ban products with characterising confectionery or fruit flavours.”

Based on the information available, Kenya says that it fails to see how Canada has sought to ensure that the law is not more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfil its legitimate objective.

The government says the law’s objective of reducing the incidence of youth smoking by banning the manufacture and sale of candy and fruit-flavoured cigarettes is a legitimate concern.

It adds that rather than banning cigarettes with a distinctive or characteristic confectionery or fruit flavour, Canada has instead banned the use of additives, even if they do not impart a characteristic flavour to the tobacco product.

No basis

“There is no basis for this approach,” the government says. “If a consumer cannot taste a candy or fruit flavour when smoking a cigarette product, and the product instead tastes simply like tobacco, there is no reason to assume that youth would be uniquely attracted to it.”

The government says that Section 7 of the Canadian Tobacco Act, which the proposed law seeks to amend, allows the country to alter the list of additives and products that are covered by the ban administratively without further legislative action. 

“Canada can use this authority to ensure that the ban only applies to cigarettes that exhibit discernible confectionery or fruit flavours,” it says. “We urge Canada to consider this approach.”