The federal government is preparing to completely ban the display of cigars in all stores in the country after rejecting claims and objections from business chambers, small merchants, tobacco companies and others affected.
After a five-month public consultation process, the Health Secretary (SSA) reiterated this Thursday before the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer) that will prohibit the display of tobacco products and will only allow stores to display a list of available brands and prices for public consultation.
The Federal Executive will reform the Regulation of the General Law of Tobacco Control to detail last February’s changes to said law, among which the advertising of cigarettes is completely prohibited.
The chambers of commerce maintain that the display of the product is not advertising, so the Regulation will be unconstitutional, since the Executive will go beyond what Congress authorized by law.
The Power of attorney will have to clarify this issue, given the protections that both large commercial chains and small merchants will foreseeably file, once the reform is published in the Official Gazette.
The SSA only yielded in postponing the start of the reform, which was going to be immediate, to leave it in 30 days after publication.
According to National Chamber of Commerce (Canaco), cigarettes account for 25 percent of small business sales, while the National Grocers Association argued that hiding the product encouraged illegal sales.
“According to widely documented scientific evidence, the tobacco industry takes advantage of points of sale to advertise and promote its products and is even directed at the most vulnerable groups, such as children and adolescents, attracted by their colorful colors and designs, which coupled with its strategic placement adjacent to sweets and treats, it promotes the normalization of consumption, attracts new users and makes it difficult for people trying to quit smoking to quit,” the SSA justified in its October 20 response.
The agency included a list of 43 countries that prohibit the display of cigarettes at points of sale. Of these, the only developed Western democracies are Ireland and New Zealand, while the rest are nations in Africa and Asia, mostly Islamic, in addition to Russia and four Latin American countries: Venezuela, Panama, Colombia and Uruguay.
Cigar producers and sellers also criticized the reform, and even the Nicaraguan Embassy in Mexico asked the SSA to exclude them from the exhibition restriction, because it affected their exports, which was rejected.
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The regulation will also eliminate smoking areas in restaurants, since food and drinks cannot be served in spaces for smokers, who will be sent to places exclusively dedicated to that activity.
“Consumers of tobacco and nicotine products will no longer be able to consume them inside places where food, beverage and lodging services are provided, regardless of whether they are outdoors,” the SSA warned.
In addition, the social responsibility actions of tobacco companies, for which they provide support in tobacco production areas, will be prohibited, considering that it is also a form of advertising.
“The strongest impact would be received by vulnerable groups and participants in the supply chain that have benefited from support granted by the industry,” tobacco company Philip Morris warned in its comments.
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