Legal Delay on Tobacco Display Ban Makes Review Necessary

The Scottish Government has today published regulations to be made under the Tobacco and Primary Services (Scotland) Act 2010. However, regulations relating to the display ban have been put on hold due to the ongoing legal challenge.

Commenting, John Drummond, Chief Executive of the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) said,
“The planned implementation dates for the display ban must be delayed as the prolonged uncertainty makes it impossible for retailers to prepare for the changeover of hundreds of shops within the current timescales.
“If the ban eventually gets the go ahead the additional time pressure will cause major disruption and higher costs.
“The implementation dates proposed are now wholly unrealistic and must be pushed back by at least a year.”

The ban which is due to come into force on the 1st October 2011 for large stores and 1st October 2013 for smaller stores has been widely criticised for being unnecessary and likely to bring cost and disruption to retailers, staff and customers.

John Drummond continued; “With evidence from Ireland and Canada suggesting displays bans are not an effective method of reducing youth smoking rates, we hope the Scottish Government will use this delay to review the policy and look for more effective solutions to reduce youth smoking.”