Clause 17 - Regulations
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
2:45 pm
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
I am pleased to hear the Minister's relaxed attitude towards current displays. People who are worried that a legitimate aspect of their current business might fall foul of the Bill will welcome that. I share the Minister's concern about loopholes that would allow tobacco products to be displayed together with toys. It is in everyone's interest to prevent that. We probed the Minister earlier on what constituted an advertisement as opposed to a display. Both the amendment and the new clause are helpful in clarifying that. People affected by the Bill will read those provisions carefully, but the detailed regulations will provide more specific guidance, so I am glad that they will be subject to positive resolution.
The Minister's relaxed attitude suggests that she views the regulations as a reserve power to deal with an abuse of what is permitted rather than as a proactive measure to be invoked as soon as the law comes into force, requiring retail outlets to adapt their existing practices to conform to it.
Let me return to display and advertisement. Given that a more explicit explanation is to be given to the term ``display'', might the Minister, on reflection, consider providing a closer definition of ``advertisement''? I think that it is possible to provide guidance to businesses in that respect.
I wish to ask the Minister some questions about the publication of draft regulations for consultation. I believe that a promise has been made several times that draft regulations for consultation would be forthcoming on point-of-sale and advertising displays. The Government said, first in relation to their intention to produce primary legislation and later as part of their plans to implement the now-annulled European directive, that they would produce regulations for consultation. Those encouraging noises have been made to the industry for almost four years.
It would have been helpful if the consultation and drafting of the regulations had taken place before we debated the Bill. I am struck by the way in which we seem to do things the wrong way round. We agree the legislative framework in an empty-box structure and are promised regulations in due course and consultation either simultaneously or some time later. I should have thought that consulting first and producing draft regulations would have been helpful ways round the question of displays.
My final point is that the Minister said that there may or may not be regulations, which provide for the meaning of ``place''. We had a problem when we debated a previous clause with the description of a specialist tobacconist as a shop. We debated how that might constrain the effectiveness of the Bill, since not all specialist tobacconists have shops. I would be interested if the Minister would tighten up the definition and say specifically what she means by ``place''.
We are defining some things precisely while leaving others open. It will be important to retailers to know specifically what ``place'' means and how they need to adapt present practices to the new definitions in forthcoming regulations. Clarification of the word ``display'' has proved helpful because the absence of a clear definition would lay us open to a situation in which a retailer might feel, in the absence of a display, that the safest thing to do would be to put all his products under the counter. I know that some people take the view that that would be a good thing because it would remove temptation from people's way, but one problem of removing the products in such a draconian way is that it drives sales under cover.
We already have a significant problem in the UK with a high proportion of illegally imported tobacco, sold not under the counter, but clandestinely from the back of a white van. We must be clear that it will be legitimate to put tobacco products on view where the trade is carried out in compliance with the Bill. That is an important distinction to make. The Bill is likely to be counter-productive without the clarification that the Minister says will be forthcoming in regulations. It is desirable for the myriad retail outlets for tobacco products to be quite clear about how much of the product they can put on view.
At present, displays containing a significant number of packets are usually behind the till, in view. I hope that I understand correctly from the Minister that she is relaxed about those displays. The effect of altering the present displays would undoubtedly be to draw attention to the changes in the law, but placing the products under the counter would have an undesirable impact. As far as possible, we want to ensure that legitimate trade in tobacco products is allowed, notwithstanding their public health risk. It is desirable to encourage people to keep their habit within the law.
The consumption of illegal tobacco represents 25 per cent. of all tobacco consumption, and the figure is almost as high as 50 per cent. in the north-east. We are fighting a losing battle; people are increasingly tempted to go for the under-the-counter products or products out of a white van rather than legitimate ones. Clarification of what is a display is essential to supporting the legitimate business of retailing tobacco products. I hope that the new clause and the regulations will be helpful in that respect.