Alliance for a Strong Tobacco Products Act warns: The wheel is to be turned back
The National Council and Council of States are expected to revisit the planned new Tobacco Products Act in spring 2019. In its evaluation of the consultation responses to the second draft of the law, the Working Group on Tobacco Prevention has come to what it sees as a worrying conclusion.
Large sections of trade, commerce and the advertising industry are therefore not only opposed to any new protective measures against tobacco advertising, but also to existing cantonal measures. The Alliance warned in a press release on Monday that this would turn back the clock.
Advertising and sponsorship bans
In their responses to the consultation, the associations from the areas of health, addiction, youth and sport, as well as the Alliance of Consumer Protection Organizations, call for a complete ban on advertising and sponsorship for smoking products.
In contrast, the retail trade, media and advertising industry associations (including IG Retail Trade, Swiss Retail, Swiss Media Association, Communication Switzerland) follow the proposals of the tobacco trade and cigarette manufacturers in their responses; they reject any tightening of the advertising and sponsorship bans for smoking products. The associations of the retail trade, the media and the advertising industry go even further and reject the cantonal advertising and sponsorship bans issued by some cantons.
In contrast, the signals from the cantons are encouraging, writes the Swiss Tobacco Prevention Association: The Conference of Cantonal Health Directors (GDK) regrets that the Federal Council is not proposing a nationwide ban on advertising tobacco products. 17 cantons (AI, AR, BL, BS, FR, GE, GR, OW, SG, SH, SO, TG, TI, UR, VD, VS, ZG) are therefore expressly calling for more effective measures against tobacco advertising. Only the two cantons where cigarette manufacturers are based, Neuchâtel and Jura, as well as the canton of Zurich want to further weaken the Federal Council's proposal.
Among the political parties, the consultation responses of the FDP and SVP are in line with those of the tobacco trade and cigarette manufacturers. The SP, Greens, EVP and GLP, on the other hand, are calling for new and additional advertising bans on smoking products.
