From the Publisher header
Is the Australian government delaying a “post-implementation review” on its introduction of plain packaging because, truth be told, there has been no effect on consumption whatsoever? It has been six months after the consultation period ended and the report had been expected some time ago. “The delay has prompted concerns that the authors of the report could be misrepresenting the data and even omitting evidence to ensure that the policy is perceived as a success,” according to a JTI press release issued from its international headquarters in Geneva. Reports indicate also that since plain packaging has been introduced, smoking levels of young people have gone up, while higher prices have simply made smokers find cheaper cigarettes rather than quit.
Glenn Anthony John
Glenn Anthony John, publisher
UK and France to join the dance?
Nevertheless, the UK government is moving forward on its own plain packaging initiative. From May 2016, companies are banned from using any logos or branding on cigarette packs. Recently, four of the world’s biggest tobacco firms filed a legal challenge to the UK government’s planned regulations claiming the move will destroy their highly valuable property rights while rendering all products indistinguishable from each other. On the manufacturer’s side would be to cite the alleged failure of plain packaging in Australia, the only other country to institute such measures… if that report is ever released. Trying to corroborate, but it seems France will also introduce plain packaging in 2016.
No more display in Singapore
Currently losing in the anti-tobacco, state-of-the-art sweepstakes to Thailand, Australia, and many other countries, former tobacco regulatory leader Singapore hopes to catch up by banning all display of tobacco products in shops by 2017. This type of regulation was passed in Thailand back in 2008, which had retailers scrambling to jerry-rig cabinetry with awnings to block cigarette packets from view. Retailers were also not allowed to “sell” or “market” brands so customers has to guess brands and configurations until they hit the jackpot and a packet was retrieved from behind the veils and money exchanged. This initiative was quietly abandoned a year or so later. Singapore’s regulations for 2017 demand that all cigarettes must be hidden inside closed storage units. The law allows retailers a plain typed-out list of available brands/configurations. The ministry of health even dictates that the storage units must be drab in color so as not to attract attention of customers. This is all in an effort to dissuade “impulse buying” of cigarettes… as in “if only the retailers had the cigarettes hidden behind counters, I would not forget that I had quit smoking” or as in “ milk, cheese, butter, ooooh, let’s try some of those delicious cigarettes over there because they are in full view and I was looking for a new habit to start up.”
E-cigs slow uptake in Asia
Let’s face it… e-cigarettes have been slow to grow in Asia. However it’s now official that a good number of Chinese manufacturers, where the vast bulk of e-cigarettes are manufactured, are now looking toward their own home market for sales. There are already scheduled three e-cigarette exhibitions in mainland China in 2016, of course with the ubiquitous “international” attached to their titles (is there any show held anywhere ever in the world anymore that doesn’t claim to be 100% “international”?). And in China, where there are three, certainly scores more will join. Throughout Asia, e-cigarettes have faced bans or are frowned upon by governments such as Thailand, United Arab Emirates, et al. Malaysia it seems is Asia’s largest market for e-cigarettes (outside China) especially in the state Johor Bahru, closest to Singapore… but the government there is going to try to forcibly change that. E-cigarette sales will be banned with the sultan telling The Star newspaper in an interview: “I want the outlets to close down by Jan 1, 2016, and I do not want to hear any excuses.” Although Singapore theoretically already banned e-cigarettes, this did not become official until November.