Coming soon: Ban on sale of loose cigarettes

The health ministry has accepted an expert panel’s recommendation of a complete ban on the sale of loose cigarette sticks in the country. The recommendations, reviewed by Business Standard, include a higher penalty for not specifying nicotine and tar contents. It has also suggested that under Section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, the penalty be increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000.

The panel, led by Ramesh Chandra, advisor in the ministry of health and family welfare, recommended a ban on the sale of loose cigarette sticks or tobacco products, as youngsters were finding it “cheap” and “convenient” to consume tobacco products.

Health Minister J P Nadda stated in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, “The expert panel constituted by ministry of health & family welfare has inter alia recommended prohibition on the sale of loose or a single stick of cigarette, increasing the minimum legal age for sale of tobacco products, increasing the fine or penalty for violation of certain provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, and making such offences cognisable. The ministry has accepted the recommendations of the committee and a draft note for the Cabinet has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultations.”

Following the announcement, stocks of cigarette makers fell on the BSE on Tuesday. Shares of ITC, which sells three of every four cigarettes in the country, tanked about five per cent to close at Rs 355. Shares of Godfrey Phillips, which sells the Marlboro brand of cigarettes in India, dived about nine per cent to Rs 2,970 on BSE. VST Industries fell 0.56 per cent to Rs 1,859.

The expert panel, set up in July, also recommended only those aged at least 25 be allowed to buy tobacco products, against the current 18 years.

STATUTORY WARNING
Sections under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003

Section 20

• Provision for punishment for failure to give specified warning and nicotine and tar contents

Existing penalty

• Penalty amount of up to Rs 5,000 for manufacturers of cigarettes, etc, who fail to give specified warning on package (for first conviction)
• Penalty amount of up to Rs 10,000 for second and subsequent convictions

Proposed penalty

• Recommended to be increased to Rs 50,000

Section 21

• Punishment for smoking in certain places

Existing penalty

• Penalty amount of up to Rs 200

Proposed penalty

• Recommended to be increased to a penalty amount of not less than Rs 200 but which may extend to Rs 1,000

Section 22

• Provides for punishment for advertisement of cigarettes, etc

Existing penalty

• Sec 22(a) - Penalty amount of up to Rs 1,000 for first conviction
• Sec 22(b) - Penalty amount of up to Rs 5,000 for second/subsequent conviction

Proposed penalty

• Recommended to be increased to Rs 10,000 under Sec 22 (a)
• Recommended to be increased to Rs 50,000 under Sec 22 (b)

Section 24

• Provides for punishment for sale of cigarettes or any other tobacco products in certain places to persons below the age of 18

Existing penalty

• Sec 24(1) - Penalty amount of up to Rs 200

Proposed penalty

• Recommended to be increased to a penalty amount of not less than Rs 500 but which may extend to Rs 1,000

According to the findings of the Global Audit Tobacco Survey (covering those aged at least 15), about 35 per cent of the respondents consumed tobacco in some form. The percentage of men consuming tobacco stood at 47; for women, it was 20 per cent.

The expert panel also sought the penalty for smoking in public places shouldn’t be less than Rs 200, which could go up to Rs 1,000. The penalty related to advertisement of tobacco products should be increased 10 times from the current Rs 1,000 (the first conviction), it added.

Though advertisement of tobacco products through traditional media avenues is banned in India, points of sale are usually flooded with banner and poster ads of various tobacco products, especially cigarettes.