TOBACCO DISPLAY BAN GUIDE
A NEW trade guide for independent retailers and wholesalers selling tobacco has been produced by the leading industry trade associations – the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) and the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) – to help the industry fully comply with the new changes to tobacco display requirements included in the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010.
The ‘Fingertip Guide to the New Tobacco Display Laws’ has been published by the SWA and SGF in partnership with leading tobacco companies JTI, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco. It is also available via an iPhone/iPad app.
Acknowledged by the Scottish Government, the new guide – a comprehensive reference guide to the legislation governing the display of tobacco in independent retailers and wholesalers in Scotland – is designed to help the industry understand the law and, crucially, fully comply with the new legislation.
It outlines the legal ‘Dos and Don’ts’ covering the introduction of the new legislation. Shops with a selling area larger than 280 square metres (3,000 square feet) are classified as a ‘large shop’ and therefore must fully comply with the law by 29 April 2013 while shops with a selling area smaller than 280 square metres are classified as a ‘small shop’ and must be fully compliant by 6 April 2015.
The new guide is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to the law. Instead, it is an extremely valuable reference guide for retailers and wholesalers who should keep copies handy to allow them – and their staff – to refer to it at any given time. It is written in an easy-to-understand format and uses a Q&A approach, answering the questions that retailers and wholesalers will most likely want to ask.
John Drummond, chief executive of the SGF, said: “This is an extremely useful guide for our members as it provides invaluable assistance to retailers who may be unclear as to what their legal obligations are. It provides an easy-to-understand reference using a simple Q&A format to cover all the key points and areas of uncertainty.”