Enforcement of Tobacco Order begins — flout it at your peril

YESTERDAY — June 1, 2008 — marked the date of the full enforcement of the Tobacco Order 2005. Although, the reaction observed by some shops and members of the public were not in line with the objectives of the new regulations, which is intended to reduce smoking in the sultanate.

One sundry shop manager in Kampung Jerudong said that he had forewarned his customers from about a month ago. He specifically informed parents not to send their children under 18 to buy cigarettes for them, which was a usual occurrence in the village.

Under the order, only one pack of each brand is allowed to be displayed to the public, the rest of the stocks have to be hidden from view. The general store avoided this predicament altogether by hiding all cigarettes in a store drawer. When asked how he would cope with customers looking to buy cigarettes, hesaid that they need only to ask for a particular cigarette and he would sell it to them if they were of age.

He also added that of course his business would be affected by the Tobacco Order, since fewer people would be inclined to buy cigarettes from the store under the order.

Some key restraints under the order are:

* The import or sale of cigarette packs which contained less than 20 cigarette sticks is prohibited. Failure to comply will result in a fine of $10,000 or six months' jail.

* The use of cigarette pack dispensing machines is forbidden.

* Advertisements of tobacco products in any form, such as ashtrays or posters which contained brand names of these products is illegal.

* Retailers selling to those under the age of 18 are liable to a fine of $5,000 and the minor purchasing the product can be fined $10,000 or serve a six month jail term.

* A licence is mandatory for the import and sale of tobacco products under the Tobacco Laws 2007. An annual fee of $2,500 is required to attain the licence. Any violation of the Tobacco Order 2005 or the Tobacco Laws 2007 will result in the suspension or cancellation of the retailer's or importer's licence.

Various places have also been banned to 'smokers' including the premises of government buildings and offices, educational institutions, recreational centres and restaurants.

The manager of a shop near the Gadong foodcourt said that he had already encountered one individual who wanted to buy the tobacco products from the store, but he appeared to be below 18 years of age. Following the standard procedure set by the ministry, the store manager asked for the young male to produce his identity card for verification of the age he claimed to be.

The teenager then said that he forgot to bring his identification card, but insisted he was 18 years old, according to the manager. The manager refused to sell him the cigarettes without seeing the identity card. The teenager began to quarrel with the manager, threatening to punch him. However, the manager said that he held his ground and eventually, the young individual gave up.

"If he still wanted to punch me, of course I (would) call the police," he told The Brunei Times. .

"Well, (it is) a good thing for underage smokers," said Nurul. The 21-year old said that the strict rules would prevent those below the legal age from purchasing cigarettes.

However, being a smoker herself, she said that she was unhappy with the Tobacco Order. Nurul mentioned that she would still continue to smoke, despite the limitations. "For me it's still easy to get cigarettes," she added. She said that she would even go to Limbang to buy the cigarettes if she had to.

Hj Aziz, 41, who had a part-time business renting all-terrain vehicles to visitors at Serasa beach, said that the new regulations would not help him reduce the amount of cigarettes he smoked per day. He said however on his own initiative he was cutting down his smoking habit. Previously he had been on three packs per day, but has now reduced to just one pack per day.

He said that even in Singapore, where such a smoking ban was said to be enforced he had still seen smokers lighting up in public places. Here, at some restaurants, even with the removal of the ashtrays, some people were still smoking. One patron said he warned them about the new rules, but they ignored him.

The Brunei Times