Clause 4 - Advertising: exclusions
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
3:30 pm
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
With respect, I do not think that Lord Lamont would have had any idea that the airlines would be banned from advertising their own duty-free products on their airline. That is a very important point. I suspect that there would have been even more noise from the duty-free lobby had it known that it was going to be shut down in such a way.
Clear differences are emerging in the Committee on the issue. We regard the measure as unfair. Airlines cannot display their duty-free goods in aeroplanes due to the lack of space. Products cannot easily be displayed on a trolley, and in due course, we shall ask the Government what constitutes a display. Perhaps that aspect of the airlines' business will only be able to continue through the use of displays. We shall, therefore, need a clear definition of one. The airlines will no longer be able to use their in-flight magazines to inform their customers about the value of the tobacco products that they carry on their aeroplanes. That places them at a clear disadvantage with regard to their competitors, and it is on the anti-competitive aspect of the legislation that we wish to hear a response from the Minister.