Govt puts filters on cigarette industry

Going by the Cabinet’s resolution today, it’s goodbye to the Wills sponsorship of the Indian cricket team, golf, or Four Square’s white water rafting.

Similarly, selling of cigarettes to minors has been made an offence — Rs 250 fine for the first offence and upto Rs 1 lakh after that, including confiscating of products.

While stunned tobacco companies are still trying to come to grips with the bill — an ITC spokesperson said they needed to study the fineprint — the industry is hoping they’ll be able to stall the Bill in Parliament. Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is a big tobacco-supporter, and has been instrumental in getting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to give concessions to the industry in the past.

In addition, there are still some loopholes in the Bill which the companies hope to exploit. Companies like ITC, for instance, registered their Wills Sport as an apparel brand many years ago — they’re even planning to launch 20-odd new stores this year — and will argue that this is not a tobacco company, but a sports-cum-apparel brand. So expect hectic lobbying by ITC and other tobacco firms to get the government to allow their surrogate advertising/sponsorships to continue. “Though ban on brandstretching is implicit in the Bill, we need to spell it out and we hope that amendments in Parliament will cover this loophole,” says a commerce ministry official.

In addition, the Bill does not explicitly cover tobacco products other than cigarettes, as these are in the States list. So, unless the states agree to adopt the proposed legislation — as Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have done — these restrictions will cover gutkas and bidis only in Union Territories. But as soon as the sponsorships and advertising go national, as on TV, the restrictions will be imposed.

Called the Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation) Bill 2000, the bill is expected to be passed smoothly in Parliament, say officials in the ministries of commerce and health. “There’s nothing in the proposed bill that directly impacts agriculture, production or employment and we expect little opposition in Parliament because it is clearly in the interest of public health,” says a ministry official. The new Bill will replace the existing Cigarettes (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1975.

The new Bill also proposes that health warnings should also indicate the levels of nicotine and tar content on the pack. The health warnings have to be in two languages, including a local language, and should be as large the largest panel of the cigarette. Which means the warning would be as big as the name of the brand!

The bill also has restrictions on selling and advertising tobacco products within 100 metres of a schools — this could, however, be amended since it’s difficult to impose such bans in congested cities like Mumbai and Chennai.

India is one of the countries negotiating the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which proposes to ban tobacco advertising, end cigarette smuggling, prevent minors from smoking etc. Comprehensive tobacco-control policies have brought down smoking and improved public health in countries like Thailand, Singapore, South Africa and the state of California and Massachusetts. Fifty-five countries have enacted tobacco-control legislation and 21 others have restricted tobacco advertisements.