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BL Premium reports that labour federation Cosatu warns that failing to comply with the Nedlac Act’s requirements could expose the government to legal challenges on the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill.
The draft tough new antismoking bill before parliament contains restrictions on smoking in public places, introduces plain packaging and picture warnings, bans vending machine sales, prohibits point-of-sale advertising and for the first time regulates e-cigarettes in much the same way as tobacco. At issue is the bill not having been subjected to thorough assessment at Nedlac, a point highlighted by Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Michele Clark when parliament’s health portfolio committee met to begin its work on the bill on Wednesday. She pointed out that the health department made a presentation on the bill to Nedlac in July 2022, but there has since been no further discussion on it. SA’s courts have struck down several laws because parliament failed to comply with its public consultation requirements. A similar fate could befall the tobacco bill if the health department did not comply with the Nedlac Act, said Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator, Matthew Parks. He said Cosatu had repeatedly asked the health department to discuss the bill at Nedlac. “We warned the department industry will not sit back,” he indicated. Deputy health minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo told MPs that the department would take the tobacco bill to Nedlac “a second time”, but did not provide any further detail.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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