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Italy: The Chamber of Deputies has approved the text for the conversion into law of Decree-Law 228/2021. If the bill is also approved by the Senate, nicotine pouches, which are currently unregulated, will have to be notified to the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) and the Ministry of Health, taxed at €22 per kg and bear a tax stamp from 1st January 2023. The proposals do not feature any restrictions on pouches’ ingredients, packaging or advertising. A proposal to lower the excise duties on heated tobacco consumables were rejected by the chamber’s Budget Committee.
Turkmenistan: The Ministry of Health has prepared a draft national programme for 2022-2025 aiming to make Turkmenistan tobacco-free country, state media reports. The programme will reportedly provide national standards and policy for tobacco control, the establishment of special control and measures to reduce public demand for tobacco products.
UK: The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published a publically available specification (PAS) on the composition, manufacture and testing of tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches (PAS 8877:2022). The document, development of which was sponsored by British American Tobacco (BAT), is available for purchase.
US (Maryland): House Bill 1227 has been introduced. It would specify that a “tobacco product” includes certain products that are made of, derived from, or contain nicotine from any source, including synthetic nicotine.
US: The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas last week issued an order in the case of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co et al v United States Food and Drug Administration et al to postpone the effective date of the “Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements” final rule. The new effective date is 9th April 2023.
EU: The European Parliament voted yesterday, 16th February, by 652 votes to 15, with 27 abstentions, in favour of adopting the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) report on Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer. The report is of crucial importance, as it makes recommendations related to traditional and novel tobacco and related products that are likely to be considered by the European Commission in the upcoming revision of the Tobacco Excise Directive and the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Last-minute attempts by Socialist and Democrat MEPs to introduce amendments that would have made harsher the recommendations on novel tobacco and related products were rejected in favour of a final text that resembles what was agreed by the BECA in December.
Ukraine: Bill 5719, adopted yesterday, provides for a change in the mechanism of crediting and distribution of retail tax between local budgets as of 1st April 2022. This relates to an amendment to the Tax Code, adopted at the end of 2021, requiring producers or importers to declare maximum retail prices for tobacco products to the tax authority. The amendment also switched responsibility for paying retail tobacco tax from retailers to manufacturers and/or importers. The tax rate is 5% of the tax base, which is the value of the maximum retail price, including VAT and excise tax.
Thailand: The government has approved a draft National Tobacco Control Plan for 2022-2027. Despite recent advocacy efforts towards legalising e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products, no such move is foreseen in the the plan. In January the Digital Economy and Society Ministry reportedly established a working group tasked with exploring possible legalisation of e-cigarettes.
Mongolia: The parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Policy has held a discussion on tobacco use and the legal environment. Committee chair M Oyunchimeg said that drafting of amendments to the Law on Tobacco Control, which will align national regulation with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is under way and should be finalised by June. “It is necessary to discuss the issue of legalising e-cigarettes, banning domestic smoking, and improving the regulation of licences for production, export and import,” Oyunchimeg said. She announced that the Excise Tax Law would also be amended to prevent reduce risk factors. Health minister Ts Erdembileg said tobacco use had been declining in recent years and that the smoking prevalence among the adult population was currently 24.2%.