IN THE SPOTLIGHT: TOBACCO PRODUCTS & ELECTRONIC DELIVERY SYSTEMS CONTROL BILL

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: TOBACCO PRODUCTS & ELECTRONIC DELIVERY SYSTEMS CONTROL BILL

• 31 July 2024
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

Intended to ‘strengthen public health protection measures’ by aligning prevailing tobacco control legislation with World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control imperatives, the Tobacco Products & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill is among 19 proposed new pieces of legislation recently revived for further processing – having lapsed at the end of the previous Parliament. 

Tabled in December 2022, the Bill includes provisions intended to:

• impose stricter product and related product processing, manufacturing and import standards
• regulate tobacco product and electronic delivery system advertising, and
• standardise the ‘packaging and appearance’ of tobacco and electronic delivery system products.

To that end, among other things, it seeks to:

• prohibit smoking in all indoor public places as well as ‘certain outdoor areas’
• ban cigarette vending machines
• make ‘plain packaging with graphic health warnings and pictorials’ mandatory, and
• ban the display of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems at points-of-sale.

Following a departmental briefing on the Bill, the National Assembly Health Committee under the previous Parliament called for written submissions. Nationwide public hearings were then held, ending in December 2023. During that process, committee media statements on the outcomes of several hearings tended to point to widespread in-principle support for the Bill’s health-related objectives.

However, at a more practical level concerns were raised. They included:

• possible job losses should manufacturers downsize in the face of more onerous, costly regulatory requirements
• the consequential likelihood of increased trade in illicit tobacco products
• a possible reduction in tax revenue from the production and sale of legal tobacco products and electronic delivery systems
• inadequate attention to the Bill’s implications for small and informal traders (especially those selling single cigarettes)
• inadequate attention to the Bill’s implications for tobacco farmers (especially small-scale and emerging farmers), and
• inadequate monitoring and enforcement capacity.

These concerns are unpacked in a report on the public hearings process, which was tabled in the House on 27 March 2024. Since no parliamentary hearings were ever held, stakeholders have yet to be given the opportunity to make oral representations in support of their written submissions.

According to the report, during several public hearings calls were made for the Bill to be sent to the National Economic Development & Labour Council for more robust consultation. In addition, it appears that no socio-economic impact assessemnt was ever conducted. With those issues in mind, it remains to be seen how the new National Assembly Health Committee proceeds.

• Bill
• parliamentary papers including committee report on public hearings (page 63)
• WHO Convention

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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