DNVN - Citing feedback from the business community, VCCI said that some regulations in the Draft Circular promulgating National Technical Regulations for Cigarettes drafted by the Ministry of Health will cause difficulties in many aspects, not consistent with the production plan for 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025 of enterprises...
The Ministry of Health is soliciting comments on the Draft Circular promulgating the National Technical Regulation (QCVN) on cigarettes. The Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), based on the opinions of businesses and associations, has given a comment.
Regarding the effective date, Clause 1, Article 2 of the Draft stipulates that the Circular will take effect from January 1, 2026. According to the feedback of enterprises, this regulation is currently inconsistent with the production plan for 2024 and the first 6 months of 2025 that the management agency has approved for cigarette manufacturing enterprises.
On the other hand, cigarette manufacturing enterprises are required to reserve an amount of raw materials equivalent to 12 - 18 months to serve production. Specifically, due to the characteristics of tobacco materials after harvesting and processing, they cannot be used as raw materials for cigarette production immediately but must go through a period of preservation and natural fermentation for a period of 10 - 12 months.
In addition, businesses also need time to sign contracts with partners producing raw tobacco materials to deploy the production of raw materials with Tar and Nicotine content meeting requirements. In particular, the transportation and delivery of raw tobacco materials also face disadvantages in terms of time and transportation costs due to the instability of the world situation.
Therefore, to ensure compliance with the actual cigarette production plan for 2024 and 2025 approved by the state management agency, and to ensure the reserve of raw materials for production, VCCI proposed that the Drafting Committee stipulate the effective date of the Circular as "The Circular takes effect 18 months after the date of issuance".
Regarding the roadmap to reduce the maximum Tar and Nicotine content in the smoke of a cigarette, the Draft stipulates that from January 1, 2026: Tar content is 15 mg/smoke of 1 cigarette, Nicotine content is 1.3 mg/smoke of 1 cigarette. From January 1, 2029, these two ratios will be 14 and 1.2 respectively. After January 1, 2029, the maximum Tar and Nicotine content prescribed at this stage will be reviewed periodically every 2 years and considered for adjustment if necessary to meet the requirements of preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco.
According to businesses, applying and complying with the above roadmap to reduce Tar and Nicotine content will cause difficulties in many aspects.
In terms of consumer preferences, consumers seek out and use tobacco to satisfy their need for Tar and Nicotine. Therefore, when they cannot find a legally produced product in the country that meets the above needs, consumers will tend to look for alternative products with smuggled products that contain higher levels of Tar and Nicotine.
Thus, an inappropriate roadmap to reduce Tar and Nicotine content will cause consumers' tobacco tastes to change suddenly, leading to a decline in product brands and increasing the risk of smuggled cigarettes entering the market, affecting the competitiveness of domestic enterprises as well as the health of consumers when using products with many risks in terms of origin, ingredients, and quality.
Regarding cultivation and production of raw materials for tobacco production, in order to meet the demand for raw materials for tobacco production containing lower levels of Tar and Nicotine, enterprises must research, cultivate and produce new tobacco varieties. This is a process that requires a lot of time to cultivate new varieties and agricultural production. In addition, in order to ensure the source of raw materials for production, enterprises must annually import about 70% of the output for the production process. In the context of complex world developments that have created a situation of disruption in supply, time and high transportation costs, ensuring raw materials for tobacco production is a difficult task.
Regarding investment in technology and production machinery: businesses believe that the current level of machinery and equipment for cigarette production at many businesses does not immediately meet the conditions for 100% implementation of the regulations on the above roadmap.
Therefore, it is necessary to take time to consider a suitable conversion roadmap before applying it to create conditions for businesses to have time to research, invest, prepare technology and human resources in production and business implementation.
For the above reasons, VCCI proposes that the Drafting Committee consider re-stipulating the roadmap according to the following plan:
Phase 1: 5 years from the effective date of the Circular: Tar content is 15 mg/smoke of 1 cigarette, Nicotine content is 1.3 mg/smoke of 1 cigarette. Phase 2: It is necessary to monitor and evaluate the implementation results of phase 1; consider the situation and context of domestic tobacco production and business to propose an appropriate reduction level.
In addition, VCCI proposed that the Drafting Committee consider or remove the content: "After January 1, 2029, the maximum content of Tar and Nicotine prescribed at this stage will be reviewed periodically every 2 years and considered for adjustment if necessary to meet the requirements of preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco". The above regulation overlaps and duplicates the regulation in Section VI.2 of the Draft.
Regarding the conformity dossier, to reduce the burden of administrative procedures for businesses, we propose that the Drafting Committee consider maintaining the current regulations on the declaration of additives and tobacco substitutes in QCVN 16-1:2015/BYT. At the same time, we propose that the Drafting Committee specifically cite the regulations on the methods, order, and procedures for declaring conformity in the circulars mentioned in section IV.2 instead of just quoting the circular data.
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Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/chinh-sach/vcci-lo-ngai-quy-chuan-ky-thuat-voi-thuoc-la-dieu-gay-kho-cho-doanh-nghiep/20241111090345779
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