New laws threaten to shut down one of the oldest businesses in South Africa
The owner of a 230-year-old tobacco shop in South Africa says that new smoking laws making their way through parliament will threaten operations and force many shops just like it to go out of business.
The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill was tabled before parliament in December 2022, starting the process of getting proposed changes for smokers and the tobacco industry put into law.
The bill still needs to proceed through the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces, and ultimately be sent to the president for assent, but it is already causing pushback from the industries it impacts.
Broadly, the bill provides for the banning of smoking in public places and outdoor areas as prescribed by the minister, as well as changes to the advertising and packaging of tobacco products.
The laws will also regulate the emerging electronic cigarette market, which has, until now, operated in a grey area in law.
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According to Diane Bravo, owner of specialist tobacco retailer, Casa Tabacs, and one of South Africa’s oldest tobacconists, Sturks – established in Greenpoint in 1793 – the proposed laws are so onerous and “absurd” that they almost equate to an outright ban on tobacco sales in the country.
Specifically, the new tobacco bill will ban the display of all tobacco products, including products such as e-cigarettes, vapes and heat-not-burn products, at a retail level, even in specialist tobacco stores.
Under the proposed laws, no form of advertising for tobacco products can exist. While this has been the case in media and sponsorships for several years already, the new bill kicks this up a notch.
When enacted, no tobacco products can be visible at the point of sale, and retailers and wholesalers – with a few exceptions – may only present the products upon request by a customer.
The laws would also empower the minister to determine the exact packaging for tobacco products, including the materials used and the typeface and images on display.
Brand names and other identifiers will be made as standard or generic as possible:
All brand elements on, inside or attached to the packaging or on an individual tobacco product are prohibited unless the brand name and product name appear in a standard colour and typeface, together with other permitted or mandatory information such as manufacturer’s details, health warnings, pictures, graphics and images and fiscal identification markings.
The laws also empower the minister to make regulations for the packaging and labelling of an electronic nicotine delivery system, electronic non-nicotine delivery system and a tobacco device, which may also include standardised packaging.
Bravo said this would be the death knell for operations at tobacconists.
“While the bill contains many absurd restrictions, the ban on displaying a legal tobacco product in a specialist tobacco store is tantamount to a complete ban on the sale of those products,” she said.
“As a specialist tobacco retailer, I can’t imagine what my store will look like if I can’t display any of the products that I sell. At the very least, the government should exempt specialist tobacconists who don’t sell products to anyone younger than 18. (Shoppers) that enter our stores only do so to buy tobacco products.”
According to the new bill, the penalties for displaying a single tobacco product, even if it’s left on the counter inadvertently, will be a fine, 10 years in prison, or both.
Despite criticisms against the bill, The National Department of Health has defended the proposed laws, saying that the bill aims to promote public health and align with the World Health Organisation (WHO) WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) treaty.
A main focus of the laws is to protect children from the harmful effects of smoking, including so-called “second-hand smoke”, and proposes strong actions against anyone caught smoking near or around children.
Illicit trade
In addition to shutting down small businesses in the sector, Bravo said the new laws will also hand the remaining legal tobacco sector over to organised criminals, as was seen during the infamous Covid-19 cigarette sales ban.
“The tobacco ban during the pandemic should have been a lesson in how not to legislate, and to properly consider the unintended consequences of new laws. During the ban, the legal sector’s market share plummeted as they were unable to sell any products.
“The result was that the illicit tobacco market, which continued to sell illegal and counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco products, entrenched their dominance in the South African market.”
Bravo’s sentiments echo statements and operational results from big companies in South Africa’s tobacco sector, including British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA).
Earlier this month, BATSA announced that it would be retrenching workers in South Africa, with 200 positions affected. This process was a direct result of the cigarette sales ban, it said.
It said that it has had to restructure its business in South Africa due to further losses in cigarette volumes, which it blamed on the rise of the illicit market in the country – exacerbated by the 2020 lockdown and ban on cigarette sales in the country.
“The 2020 tobacco sales ban resulted in an explosion of growth for the illicit market. This has continued even after the ban on tobacco sales was lifted,” it said.
Read: New smoking laws for South Africa – how government plans to stop lawbreakers
