| Tobacco packaging consultation announced |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
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Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2011 3:56 pm
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The Department of Health has announced the timeframe for planned consultation on plain packaging for tobacco products to ‘Spring 2012’. They also confirmed that the consultation will be a UK-wide consultation engaging ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and will be accompanied by an independent evidence review.
Ministers have recognized that in considering this issue involves ‘a complex series of issues’ and that they “will need to take all the relevant factors into account.” They also explained that Department of Health will be seeking input from colleagues across Government.
The measure recently enacted in legislation in Australia is heavily criticized for the likely burden it would place on retailers.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) Chief Executive James Lowman has offered Ministers all the support they need in understanding the likely harm such a measure would impose on local shops. He said:
“Generic packaging for tobacco products will create a significant burden for local shop retailers. We welcome that Ministers will take all factor into account in deciding whether to press ahead with such a measure. ACS will seek to provide a constructive and comprehensive response to the consultation which we hope Ministers will consider carefully.”
“We do not believe that Government should impose such a measure at a time when the recently enacted tobacco display ban is still to be implemented in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The confusion that this would create would be an unbearable regulatory burden on thousands of businesses.”
Mr Lowman set out the main burdens that retailers would face:
“If every tobacco product looks the same it will be much harder for retailers and their staff to locate product on the shelf this will slow down service times, affect customer service and make stock management harder. We will provide detailed costing of this harm to the consultation.
“Government must consider carefully the implications of impact on pricing and profitability of removing branding from the tobacco category. If generic packaging were to lead to the removal of price variations in the product category, this would lead to a reduction in the price of tobacco to consumers and the removal of profitability from retailers. These two factors could significantly outweigh any unproven benefits in reduced smoking prevalence.
“We are concerned that the introduction of generic packaging could fuel the illegal trade. This is a problem that continues to blight communities up and down the UK. |
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