Among the restrictions under the Tobacco Act of 2005 are:
- The import or sale of cigarette packs which contained less than 20 cigarette sticks is prohibited. Failure to comply will result in a fine of $10,000 or six months' jail.
- The use of cigarette pack dispensing machines is forbidden.
- Advertisements of tobacco products in any form, such as ashtrays or posters which contained brand names of these products is illegal.
- Retailers selling to those under the age of 18 are liable to a fine of $5,000 and the minor purchasing the product can be fined $10,000 or serve a six month jail term.
- A licence is mandatory for the import and sale of tobacco products under the Tobacco Laws 2007. An annual fee of $2,500 is required to attain the licence. Any violation of the Tobacco Order 2005 or the Tobacco Laws 2007 will result in the suspension or cancellation of the retailer's or importer's licence.
- Smoking in public places/transport or an assembly where there are more than 2 persons are prohibited.
- Only one pack of each brand/variety is allowed to be displayed; the rest have to be hidden away from view.
It has been reported that among the majority of smokers in Brunei are under-aged smokers. Hopefully, with the full implementation of this Act, the number of under-aged smokers can be significantly reduced.
I also hope to see that public places now become smoke-free. Despite the introduction of earlier laws, which were not strcitly enforced, patrons of restaurants, and visitors, and sometimes patients, in the hospitals smoked freely, without any regards to people surrounding them. They could argue that it was within their rights to smoke, but it was even our greater rights to breath air which was free of expired and acrid smoke. And do you know that non-smokers are at equal risk of getting cigarette-related illness as smokers, just by inhalation of the expired air from the smokers?
So what else can we do to reduce the number of smokers in Brunei? The Government should increase the duty of the cigarettes. The price of a pack of cigarettes in Brunei is relatively lower than many other countries. This particular brand of cigarette costs BND4 in Brunei, while in Singapore it costs BND10. The extra money gained from the cigarette duty can be used into improving healthcare system in Brunei. Think about it this way, the money that get used to treat smokers with cigarette-related illness can be used to treat other patients with diseases which are not brought about by their lifestyles.
The authority should also follow what other countries are doing. They should put graphic, and often scary, image of the damage brought about by smoking on the cigarette packs. Putting a simple message on the packs may not help much, but putting those images might help to drive the message more strongly.
I read recently that the Health Authority in the United Kingdom is pondering on the plan to ban any logo on cigarette packs. It would mean that cigarettes will be sold in plain black and white packs. Read about it here.
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2 comments:
i'd give this a few months before this so-called drive lose heat. besides why restrict? why not total ban like alcohol?
now i'm no economist or some expert with hard evidence, but it's plain to see all governments all over the world would not dare to impose a total smoking ban because they earn tons and tons of money from tobacco duties. and those money from the duties must've helped a country's economy and help subsidize other necessities or products needed daily by its population.
so i bet, if smoking was totally ban in brunei, you would see prices of our daily necessities will increase to make up for the lost of duties/income that tobacco brings.
so indirectly, the governments are making money of smokers and when they need more, they simply increase the prices of cigarettes. i'm sure in other countries, the government probably invested some money secretly on tobacco factories, but that is just one of my conspiracy theories ;p
so in closing, i say stop dissing smokers, they contribute to your lifestyles in one way or the other and made it affordable.
I will not deny it that the Government is making money from cigarette's duty. With the total ban of alcohol in Brunei, cigarette is one of the dutiable items. However, having said that, and if this can be confirmed by those in the know, the amount of money that the Government gets from cigarette duty is 'insignificant'. Just look at the price of a pack of cigarette. At the current price of BND4 per pack for this international brand, probably only less than half of it goes to the government's coffers. The biggest money earners from the sale of cigarettes are the tobacco companies.
I am not dissing the smokers; rather, I am expressing my, as well as other non-smokers', views on the smoking ban. As much as the smokers have a right to smoke, I'd think it is even a greater right for us to breather smoke-free air. The smokers may smoke to their hearts' (or isn't it lungs?) contents, but please be considerate to non-smokers.
As of making our lifestyle affordable, I have to say that it is made more affordable by the natural resources that Allah the Almighty has given us; oil and gas.
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