Jump to full article: Caymanian Compass (ky), 2007-03-30
Intro: During the Chamber of Commerce's luncheon concerning the proposed Tobacco Bill on Wednesday, private sector attorney Murali Ram pointed out a number of what must be considered flaws in the draft legislation.
There are often many flaws in new bills, and the Tobacco Bill was only put out as a white paper for public consultation, so it is not too alarming that Mr. Ram was able to find a number of drafting problems.
However, what is troubling is that many sections of the law refer to elements prescribed by regulations that have not yet been released. Nor has the Ministry of Health given the public any idea what the regulations might likely contain. . . .
Although we can understand why the Government would like to maintain control over certain workings of laws through policy decisions rather than legislation, it seems less than transparent to delay announcing regulations until after a public consultation period is over.
Especially when it comes to something as fundamentally changing to society as the Tobacco Bill, we would hope that in the future the government announces its full intentions with regard to proposed legislation before any public consultation process commences.
Jump to full article » |