Business
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant Business Co-orinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.comFriday, July 12, 2013THE Ministry of Health says documen-tation on the new smoking regulations will be made available on Monday, the day the ban on smoking in public places becomes effective.The department was responding to Wednesday’s Business Observer article, in which cigarette distributor Carreras complained that it has been unable to assess costs and plan around the new smoking laws, as the company had yet to be given access to actual documen-tation on the rules.In a statement to the newspaper, Health Ministry director of communications Neville Graham said: “The Ministry of Health wishes to reiterate that the ban on smoking in public places takes effect on Monday July 15, 2013. By that time all stakeholders will have the relevant information. Rest assured, labelling standards and packaging requirements will be available in good time.”Christopher Brown, head of corporate and regulatory affairs at Carreras, said earler this week that the company was “very concerned” about not having yet seen a copy of the regulations, especially given the fact that it only has a six-month transitional period to comply with the new law.In accordance with the ban on smoking in public spaces, announced two weeks ago by Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson, establish-ments will have six months within which to post ‘No smoking’ signs, and tobacco products will have to carry large, graphic health warnings instead of the text-only warnings currently used.The new labelling standards could cost Carreras a significant amount of money in repackaging of its tobacco products.“That has significant production implications, so if we are unable to see what those specifications — images, fonts etc — are, I am not too sure how we can prepare,” Brown said, noting that “Production and packaging issues are not an overnight effort in terms of what is required… time is ticking and we have not seen the regulations ourselves.”With a matter of days before the ban on smoking in public places comes into effect, Brown said his company has been getting calls from many of its partners seeking clarification on the issue.“We have gotten calls from small, medium and large-sized hotels, bars and restaurants who, like us, have not seen the specifics of the regulations, are unclear as to what is happening in terms of the details and who are not sure how to prepare,” Brown said, arguing that “It is very unfortunate how the regulations have been rolled out. It is really untidy.”Cigarette distributor Carreras complained that it has been unable to assess costs and plan around the new smoking laws, as the company had yet to be given access to actual documentation on the rules.
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Health Ministry to Carreras: You"ll know on Monday
