THAILAND. According to a seemingly well-sourced story in today’s Bangkok Post, duty free retailers nationwide will be ordered to remove cigarette cartons from public display – though not from sale.
The report claims such display violates the 1992 Tobacco Control Act.
It said that since popular convenience store operator CP 7-Eleven was forced to remove cigarette products from its shelves last year, duty free shops have become “the prime target: of the government’s crackdown on tobacco advertising.
The report quoted Saman Phutrakul, Chief of the Department of Disease Control’s tobacco and alcohol control unit. He said the manner in which duty free shops display tobacco cartons is considered advertising, “which was against the ministry’s regulation banning cigarette displays in shops”.
It claimed that the Council of State had also ruled that displaying tobacco products at retail shops was considered a form of advertising.
Under the regulation, which took effect in September 2005, all forms of tobacco advertising are prohibited. Violators face a maximum fine of THB200,000 (US$5,100).
“We affirm our stance that public places must be free of tobacco displays. Duty free shops are no exception,” Saman told the Bangkok Post.
The ban would be enforced as soon as it was approved by the national committee on tobacco control, chaired by the Public Health Minister.
A King Power source this morning told The Moodie Report that the company had seen the report and was seeking a legal opinion.
Equally King Power has long affirmed – rightly – that duty free is effectively in an international zone and therefore exempt from such provisions. The retailer has also committed to an onerous concession fee structure at the existing airport and also Bangkok’s new airport set to open later this year. Those fees are based on the unfettered right to sell tobaco duty free.
Nonetheless, the story has important ramifications. The WHO is committed to restricting and if possible banning duty free tobacco sales. Forcing retailers to restrict the visibility of display is a surfacing strategy adopted by the anti-tobacco interests.
ETRC spokesman Keith Spinks said he took the report very seriously. ¨”As you rightly point out, the tobacco control NGOs are still focusing on duty free and a ban on merchandising in many ways acheives some of their goals, particularly as I think they now realise that an outright global ban on duty free sales or allowances is unrealistic in the forseeable future, although this still remains their primary objective.
“What is worrying about the situation in Thailand is that, if the press report is confirmed, tobacco shelving in duty free shops could be removed because product displays are classified as advertising for tobacco, which is banned. This is the first occasion that I am aware of where merchandising displays in duty free have been classified as advertising. We have seen restrictions on shelving in duty free shops elsewhere, such as Iceland and Australia but this is the first case that I am aware of where a ban has been considered.
“This is a very worrying precedent.”
More details tomorrow.
