97 Countries around the world ban the sale of single cigarettes aiming to reduce cigarette demand by adolescents
97 Countries around the world ban the sale of single cigarettes aiming to reduce cigarette demand by adolescents Press Release: Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center (TRC) Date: 22 January 2015 Release date: For Immediate Release
Asst. Prof., Dr. Sunida Preechawong, a lecturer of the Faculty of Nursing, Chulalongkorn University and head of the study group for policies helping to quit smoking at a population level, supported by the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center (TRC) and Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), said that “Sale to and by Minors” is Section 16 in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) aiming to prevent and reduce access to tobacco products of children and adolescents. This section consists of 3 elements: (1) Prohibit selling cigarettes to minors, (2) Prohibit selling cigarettes to adolescents, and (3) Prohibit selling a single cigarette or a small pack of cigarettes. Besides, policy makers should consider measures making it harder for children and adolescents to access cigarettes in addition to using price and tax measures to discourage smoking. Measures that need to be considered include those that limit tobacco product availability in retail stores.
According to the debate in terms of the appropriateness of adopting the measure prohibiting the sale of a single cigarette in Thailand, please note that the information from the database of the World Health Organization indicates that 97 countries have already adopted Section 16 of the WHO FCTC on prohibition selling a single cigarette and small packs of cigarettes (sale of cigarettes individually or in small packets prohibited).
In addition, prohibiting the sale of single cigarettes will not have more an effect on the income from taxes for the Ministry of Finance since an important variable is the cigarette tax collected per package, which the Ministry of Finance is able to raise 2 – 5% to compensate for any decrease in the sales of cigarettes which is less than 5%.
Asst. Prof., Dr. Sunida Preechawong also emphasized that according to the Tobacco Product Control Act. B.E. 2535 (1992), Section 24 indicates that “No person shall sell or have shredded tobacco for sale without posting tobacco stamps”. Therefore, the Tobacco Product Control Act. B.E. 2535 (1992) prohibits selling cigarettes in small packs only in order to determine the tax, which does not cover the objective of reducing demand or the access by minors to buy cigarettes. For this reason, it is necessary to have a regulation to prohibit selling single cigarettes in the new Tobacco Product Control Act.
To request additional information, please contact:
Asst. Prof., Dr. Sunida Preechawong Tel. 081 869 0654 or
Khun Pornphun Pookritsana Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management (TRC) Tel.: 2354-5346, 087-347-2727
E-mail: pornphan@trc.or.th
