Smokers
will pay an additional Sh650 million in taxes a year following the
enactment of new laws seeking to discourage cigarette consumption.
It is expected the newest charges will raise the cost of cigarettes across the various brands, which is already at record levels, with the most premium brand selling at Sh15 per stick and close to Sh300 per packet. The new levies, which are pegged at two per cent of annual sales estimated at Sh32 billion, will be compounded with graphic images warning users of the harmful effects of tobacco smoking. Scary images Images showing undesired effects of impotence and barrenness will be affixed on cigarette packets starting tomorrow, September 1. A public notice issued by Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu indicates the manufacturers will be required to pay the charges to the State as compensation paid for damages for injury. “You are expected to pay at the end of every financial year a Solatium Compensation Contribution, which shall be the sum of two per cent of tobacco products manufactured or imported,” reads Mr Mailu’s notice in part.
The regulations follow an unsuccessful fight staged by tobacco makers that dragged to the courts. Among the biggest losers of the new law are companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), which produces three out of every four cigarettes smoked in Kenya. From September 26, all wholesalers and retailers of tobacco and related products are expected to ensure there are pictorial health warnings prescribed by the regulation in their cigarettes new packaging. Warnings In the regulation, Mr Mailu said the Health ministry had released the digital device containing the first batch of the pictorial warning that will run from September 26 for three months in cigarettes which will from then be strictly be sold in packets and not per stick. “The second batch of pictorials, which will begin from January 1 to December 31, will be dispatched to you in due course,” said Mailu’s public Notice. Among the pictorials expected to be carried on the cigarettes packets are the photos of the comparison between a clean and soot-laden lungs, to show the health impact of smoking.
Others in the legal notice number 169 of 2014 are a picture of tobacco causing impotence, premature births, causing gum disease, infertility in women, cancer and a graphical photo of a coffin.
It also warns that the use of shisha was equally harmful. In the public notice pursuant to section 53 of the Tobacco Control Act 2007, managers and owners of premises categorised as public places will be required to have a standardised signage displayed at public places in forming people that their businesses are ‘smoking free’ zone and penalty that applies. Those who are caught smoking in what is designated as public areas will be forced to pay a penalty of Sh50,000 or face six months’ imprisonment.
It is expected the newest charges will raise the cost of cigarettes across the various brands, which is already at record levels, with the most premium brand selling at Sh15 per stick and close to Sh300 per packet. The new levies, which are pegged at two per cent of annual sales estimated at Sh32 billion, will be compounded with graphic images warning users of the harmful effects of tobacco smoking. Scary images Images showing undesired effects of impotence and barrenness will be affixed on cigarette packets starting tomorrow, September 1. A public notice issued by Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu indicates the manufacturers will be required to pay the charges to the State as compensation paid for damages for injury. “You are expected to pay at the end of every financial year a Solatium Compensation Contribution, which shall be the sum of two per cent of tobacco products manufactured or imported,” reads Mr Mailu’s notice in part.
The regulations follow an unsuccessful fight staged by tobacco makers that dragged to the courts. Among the biggest losers of the new law are companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), which produces three out of every four cigarettes smoked in Kenya. From September 26, all wholesalers and retailers of tobacco and related products are expected to ensure there are pictorial health warnings prescribed by the regulation in their cigarettes new packaging. Warnings In the regulation, Mr Mailu said the Health ministry had released the digital device containing the first batch of the pictorial warning that will run from September 26 for three months in cigarettes which will from then be strictly be sold in packets and not per stick. “The second batch of pictorials, which will begin from January 1 to December 31, will be dispatched to you in due course,” said Mailu’s public Notice. Among the pictorials expected to be carried on the cigarettes packets are the photos of the comparison between a clean and soot-laden lungs, to show the health impact of smoking.
Others in the legal notice number 169 of 2014 are a picture of tobacco causing impotence, premature births, causing gum disease, infertility in women, cancer and a graphical photo of a coffin.
It also warns that the use of shisha was equally harmful. In the public notice pursuant to section 53 of the Tobacco Control Act 2007, managers and owners of premises categorised as public places will be required to have a standardised signage displayed at public places in forming people that their businesses are ‘smoking free’ zone and penalty that applies. Those who are caught smoking in what is designated as public areas will be forced to pay a penalty of Sh50,000 or face six months’ imprisonment.
Both
the wholesalers, retailers and managers and owners of premises will
collect standardised signages from the county public health offices.
Tobacco firms had gone to court to challenge the implementation of the
new regulations under the Tobacco Control Act 2007 but a High Court
judgement on March 24 this year declared the regulation valid and gave
an order for the regulations to come into force six months from the date
of the ruling.
Resource
:http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000214042/cigarette-companies-to-pay-hefty-levy-for-tobacco-effects/?
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