Tough rules to curb smoking take effect
What you need to know:
- Tobacco manufacturers and importers will have to increase the size of health warnings on the packs.
- They will also have to include graphic images illustrating tobacco-associated illnesses.
- The move by the Ministry of Health is aimed at reducing the allure of smoking and cutting down the number of tobacco-related diseases and deaths.
Tobacco firms will from Thursday be required to comply with new rules compelling them to display on cigarette packs health warnings on the effects of smoking.
The new directive means that tobacco manufacturers and importers will have to increase the size of health warnings on the packs.
They will also have to include graphic images illustrating tobacco-associated illnesses.
The move by the Ministry of Health is aimed at reducing the allure of smoking, and minimising the number of tobacco-related diseases and deaths.
A seven-page advertisement in the Daily Nation on Tuesday outlined some of the rules that tobacco firms and traders are required to abide by.
Key among them is that sellers of tobacco products will be required to display standardised signs showing that they are indeed licensed to sell cigarettes. They will also only be allowed to sell cigarettes in packets, not sticks.
Dr Cleopa Mailu, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, said the new regulations will come into effect from September 26.
PICTORIAL HEALTH WARNINGS
“Wholesalers and retailers of tobacco and tobacco products are expected to stock products that comply with and conform to the packaging requirements of the pictorial health warnings,” Dr Mailu said.
The new rules also require that at the end of every financial year, tobacco firms will pay a Solatium Compensatory Contribution equivalent to two per cent of the value of the manufactured or imported tobacco products. This is a form of compensation awarded to an individual for personal suffering or grief arising from an injury.
In an e-mail, British American Tobacco (BAT) Area Head of Legal and External Affairs, Mr Simukai Munjanganja, said the firm was concerned that parts of the rules are disproportionate, oppressive and contrary to the Constitution.
“We are not opposed to regulation. We support regulation that is balanced and evidence based - actually helping to achieve the intended public health objectives,” he said.
“It is still too early to tell the extent of the impact of the regulations on our business. However, we expect change in product packaging and labelling and increased costs associated with regulatory compliance.”
