Tobacco.org

• Unpaid smoking fines could lead to visitor ban 

The government is executing a territory-wide campaign to ban indoors smoking and in public places, and non-residents who break the rules and fail to pay the fine will be barred from re-entering the city.

Authorities released figures on the first month of enforcing the smoking ban, with 260 fixed-fine penalty tickets (MOP 600 each) issued to smokers who violated the new law aimed at improving air-quality in the city.

But the official statistics also showed that only around 60 percent of the law-breakers had paid the fine, while the remaining 40 percent were yet to face the music.

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• Smokers start getting fined  

In the first two days since a wide smoking ban was enacted in Macau, over 750 venues have been already inspected, with 16 people being fined, according to a press release from the government.

Seven of the fined people were tourists.

Smoking is no longer permitted at an extensive list of public venues in Macau, starting from the beginning of this month. These include, among others, workplaces, hotels (except rooms and outdoor areas), restaurants, commercial areas, banks and government buildings.

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Tobacco tax increase ‘too little’: associations 

The tobacco tax will more than double, from MOP 4 to MOP 10, according to a government-proposed draft law recently sent to lawmakers’ approval.

Local anti-smoking associations regard the MOP 6 raise as too low, while Hong Kong-based World Health Organisation (WHO) senior policy advisor Judith Mackay says it is still “inadequate”.

The secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen had promised to raise the tobacco tax last month at the Legislative Assembly.

The tax will increase by MOP 0.5 for each cigarette, in order to be in line with the ban on smoking in public places that comes into effect from January 1.

In Macau the tobacco tax was last updated in 2009 and is currently set at MOP 0.2 per cigarette or MOP 4 per 20-cigarette pack.

Currently the average price of a cigarette pack is MOP 20, while in Hong Kong it costs up to MOP 50 after a 41.6 percent increase set in June this year.

Local anti-smoking associations and lawmakers were calling for an increase similar to Hong Kong.

“We are very disappointed. We hope that the government will consider matching the tax with Hong Kong because tobacco prices continue to be very cheap in Macau as compared to Hong Kong,” Smoking and Healthy Life Association of Macau director-general Samuel Chan told Macau Daily Times.

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Tobacco tax raise ready 

The draft law that will increase tobacco tax is ready, the Economic Services Bureau director said yesterday. But Sou Tim Peng declined to say how big the update is that the government is proposing.

“We have already sent it [the draft bill] to the government and, after being discussed, I’m sure it will soon be sent to the Legislative Assembly,” he told journalists at the end of a meeting of the committee for the development of the convention and exhibition industry.

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• Tobacco tax set to rise 

The government is preparing to raise tobacco tax, to be introduced after the ban on indoor smoking comes into effect from January 1, secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said yesterday at the Legislative Assembly.

In Macau, the tobacco tax was last updated in 2009 and is currently at MOP 0.2 per cigarette or MOP 4 per 20-cigarette pack. But the Health Bureau has promised to increase this figure, lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong recalled.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Hong Kong the tax was raised this year to HKD 35 per packet, lawmaker Lee Chong Cheng stressed. And In Australia a cigarette packet can cost as much as HKD 120, he added.

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China Kangtai Cactus Announces Consumer Launch of New Low Nicotine Cigarette 

China Kangtai Cactus Biotech Inc. (OTCBB: CKGT), a vertically integrated grower, developer, manufacturer and marketer of a variety of cactus-based products in China, announced today that its Sheng Cao brand of new low-nicotine cigarettes has been approved for sale to consumers by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

The Company submitted the new cigarette for China CDC approval earlier this year. After a thorough analysis, which included quality control and toxicity tests, the CDC approved the Sheng Cao new low-nicotine cigarette for consumer use this year. This new cigarette is designed to contain lower nicotine and tar than most competing brands. The taste is very smooth and suitable for regular smokers who want to reduce their nicotine intake.

The Company said the new cigarette, which will be produced in Macau, will initially be introduced in Guangdong Province. The new cigarette is expected to generate approximately RMB 22 million (approximately US $3.4 million) in sales in 2011. Management said that upon successful initial market roll out, the Company expects to expand its marketing efforts to additional locations before the end of the year.

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JORGE: Sun-bathing and smoking 

In Macau, as well as elsewhere in the world, the health hazards and problems that smoking poses are still miles away from a decent solution. Yet, in a somewhat odd move, smoking is about to become prohibited … on our beaches.

Not being a smoker myself – and actually in no way friendly towards irresponsible smokers – I’ll try to square a few things here in an impartial and unbiased way, as much as my non-smoker stance allows me to.

Among those, smokers or otherwise, who defend the right to continue the habit and the freedom to enjoy a puff unhindered by rules and regulations, some argue that the tobacco industry is a legal business with open sale of cigarettes, cigars and so on. As a matter of fact, the multi-million dollar business, which made entrepreneurs and a few tobacco companies outstandingly wealthy for centuries, continues to provide some countries with handsome revenue from tobacco sale taxes. Their question is, if the state freely allows and takes taxes from the product why place restrictions on its users with bans? . . .

Now to reach my point… freedom should go both ways. If you’re mature enough to make a choice of smoking, notwithstanding the hazards, you should be equally responsible to be concerned about non-smokers around you. I am sure that tolerance and manners plus considerate civic behaviour are always a good alternative to piling up bans and prohibitions and fines. I am not so sure though if it works when ‘the soup is already spilled’.

I just wonder how efficiently you can enforce a smoking ban on a beach, if you are dealing with smokers addicted to the point of lighting a cigarette while sun-bathing?

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Casino operators want meeting with legislators about non-smoking bill  

The Macau gaming operators have sent a fax to the Legislative Assembly requesting a meeting with the standing committee discussing the government’s law proposal on a ban on smoking.

The law as already been approved on its first reading. For it to be enacted, lawmakers will still have to vote at a second reading.

All gaming operators, except for Sands China, signed the fax.

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• New tobacco ban proposal allows for casino smoking areas 

One year after the new tobacco control law passed first reading at the Legislative Assembly (AL), the Government has sent a second draft for lawmakers to analyse. The new proposal allows casinos to set up designated smoking areas but removes the exemptions for saunas, massage lounges and dance halls initially proposed. According to the draft sent to the AL on Friday, casinos have a one-year period to create smoking areas "up to a maximum of 50 percent of the total public area, as long as they are physically separated from the remaining facilities". These designated areas will also have to "meet the technical requirements" to be defined in a later Chief Executive dispatch. Last November, the Health Bureau director Lei Chin Ion revealed a study had been commissioned into the effectiveness of air purifiers in controlling tobacco smoke in casinos. In the original draft, saunas, massage lounges and dance halls were also allowed to set up smoking areas, after a transition period of one year. But these venues, as well as bars, will now have three years to prepare for a full smoking ban. "I'm disappointed," Samuel Chan, the director of the Smoking and Health Life Association of Macau, told Macau Daily Times. "In my opinion, I would like to have a 100 percent ban on smoking indoors. We had been trying to convince the responsible people and do some lobbying ourselves," he said.

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Smoking should be allowed in casinos: poll  

Smoking should be allowed in casinos, says the majority of respondents to a Macau Business web poll.

According to the results, 51 percent of the respondents were in favour of smoking in casinos with no restrictions at all.

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• Bureau studies smoke filters for use in casinos 

The Health Bureau (SS) has appointed experts to study the effectiveness of air purifiers to control tobacco smoke in casinos, director Lei Chin Ion confirmed yesterday.

He reiterated that the top concern of the Government is the health of locals, but added that the actual situation of Macau cannot be overlooked either.

Lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong told reporters on the sidelines of the 4th Cross-Strait Conference on Tobacco Control that the SS director has disclosed to him that the six gaming operators have proposed the use of devices to filter tobacco smoke in order to replace a full smoking ban inside casinos, according to Radio Macau.

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• Experts slam smoking ban exemptions 

The three-year exemption period established by the new tobacco control law is too long and the Government should change its attitude towards the fight against tobacco use, experts from Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan told the Macau Daily Times yesterday.

“We urge the Government to introduce a new law as soon as possible, because this is the best and only way to protect all the people, no matter in which area or industry or business,” said Johnny Au, director general of the local Smoking Abstention and Good Health Association.

“Smoke-free is a very basic protection of the human rights. In mainland China or Hong Kong, the laws are very smooth and don’t affect their businesses,” he added.

According to Au, Macau has to recognise the importance of a smoke-free environment. Still, he stressed that the society is not making noise on the three-year adjustment period: “I think three years is the ceiling and, after that, our association hopes that there will be 100 percent engaging.” . . .

Chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, Lisa Lau Man-man, believes that to set up an entire area of smoke-free means “much fairer competition” for businesses. Commenting on the Macau proposed three-year period, she said that “certainly businesses want to have a much longer time to adjust, but a too long period is not favourable.”

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• Macau Drafts Law to Ban Smoking in Casinos, Macau Post Says  

Macau’s government plans to submit a draft anti-smoking bill that may bar the activity from casinos within three years, the Macau Post Daily reported today, citing an unidentified person.

A committee of the city’s Legislative Assembly discussed the bill at a meeting yesterday, the newspaper said. The government may submit the draft to the city’s lawmaking body as soon as June 15, the report said.

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澳门控烟法案获立法会通过 循序渐进建无烟环境 

中新网1月6日电 据澳门日报报道，澳门《预防及控制吸烟制度》法案5日获立法会一般性通过。特区政府表示，未来将在卫生局辖下成立配备70名督察的控烟办，协同治安警、民署稽查及博监局人员执法。对违例者即场票控、定额罚款，并成立24小时热线处理投诉。

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• Front of store, front of mind – but for WHO? 

Where, in an acutely sensitive regulatory environment, should the tobacco category be positioned in a duty free store?

When The Nuance Group opened its splendid new 650sq m tax & duty free store at Geneva International Airport earlier this month, it opted to place the entire tobacco category at the entrance of the store – displayed in what Nuance called a “breathtaking black and white setting”.

The logic is obvious. As many studies have proven, tobacco is not just a major drawcard in most duty free stores, it is also a tremendous fooftall (and therefore penetration) driver for other categories.

In Geneva that’s especially the case. The airport’s cigar assortment has long been a hallmark of the retail offer (it has been considerably enhanced here) and the cigarettes category is particularly important to the Geneva passenger profile.

But one wonders how that positioning sits with the approach likely to be adopted in English and Scottish duty free stores, where travel retailers have sought an exemption from proposed tobacco display restrictions that are being touted under the Health Bill. . . .

As we reported recently, The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display) (England) Regulations 2010 propose wide-ranging limitations on the display and merchandising of tobacco products.

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