TOBACCO PRODUCTS BILL: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE’s HEARINGS CONCLUDED

TOBACCO PRODUCTS BILL: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE’s HEARINGS CONCLUDED

• 29 August 2025
• Health & Safety
• SA Legal Academy

The National Assembly’s Health Committee has issued a media statement on its recently concluded Tobacco Products & Electronic Delivery System Control Bill public hearings process, which began in March 2025 and continued during the winter parliamentary recess, when key stakeholders supported their written submissions with oral representations.

As SA Legal Academy has regularly reported, tabled in December 2022 the controversial Bill seeks to:

• ‘strengthen public health protection measures’
• ‘align South African … tobacco control law with (the) World Health Organisation Framework Convention’
• ‘make indoor public places and certain outdoor areas … 100% smoke-free’
• ban cigarettes vending machines, as well point-of-sale displays
• make ‘plain packaging’ mandatory, along with ‘graphic health warnings and pictorials’, and
• provide for ‘the regulation and control of electronic nicotine delivery systems and non-nicotine delivery systems’.

This is according to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects, which also notes that, once enacted and operationalised, the proposed new piece of legislation will repeal the 1993 Tobacco Control Act.

Summarising input received from key stakeholders during recent ‘virtual’ parliamentary hearings, the statement notes some of the more general comments made by the Bill’s critics and supporters. Apparently:

• critics are concerned that ‘the Bill treats electronic delivery systems in the same manner as combustible tobacco, overlooking their lower-risk profile and potential role in smoking cessation’, while
• ‘concerns were also raised that measures such as plain packaging and display bans could create unintended consequences’, including:
  • ‘facilitating counterfeiting’, and
  • ‘expanding’ the illicit tobacco products market (noting existing enforcement challenges).

By contrast, the Bill’s supporters ‘welcomed it as an essential instrument’ in ongoing efforts to:

• ‘reduce smoking prevalence’
• ‘protect non-smokers … and children’
• close ‘regulatory loopholes’, and
• ensure the ‘comprehensive control of emerging products’.

In their view, the Bill represents ‘an important step in prioritising public health over industry interests’.

As the next step in the parliamentary committee process, the Department of Health will respond to the input received.

• media statement
• Bill

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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