More Cost Complexities For Retail With Plain Packaging Display Ban Says Sundry Association

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THE Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Association of Malaysia (FSGMAM) has expressed concern over recent discussions surrounding the potential plain packaging and banning display of cigarettes and vape products in stores as part of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852).
Calling for the government to hold consultation over the proposed measures, the sundry association said while it understands the Health Ministry’s (MOH) intention to discourage smoking and vaping, such measures don’t help to achieve its objectives.
“Rather, it creates complexities for businesses and will impose a significant financial burden on private-owned sundry shops which form the backbone of many communities across Malaysia,” said FSGMAM president Hong Chee Meng in a statement on Wednesday (April 24).
“Display ban will require retailers to incur costs to make adjustments in-shop to comply with the regulations. This is going to be a huge additional financial burden for us and we cannot afford to bear the cost.”
Hong said as retail operators will have to make adjustments to cover the products and keep them out of sight, and this means that every time a consumer comes to purchase the products, retail operators have to look for the products to transact.
“This will be made worse with plain packaging requirements where each product will look the same in color and shape, making it more complicated for retail operators to look for a specific brand or product whenever a consumer asks for it,” he added.
FSGMAM further expressed belief that the Ministry needs to tackle the issue of illegal cigarettes that is causing the smoking rates in Malaysia.
“Instead of coming up with the idea of banning the display of products and introducing plain packaging requirements, the Ministry should take stern action against illegal cigarette operators to reduce smoking rates,” Hong stressed.
“The real reason why many Malaysians are still smoking is because of illegal cigarettes that are sold at a very cheap price and easily available.”
Calling the proposals “drastic” without considering the impact on retail operations, Hong said the association had already written twice to the MOH to request meetings and information related to their proposed measures.
“But to date, we did not receive any notice from the Ministry to hold any discussions. It is not right for retail operators who are the frontliners and impacted the most with these proposed measures to have no details nor information on the implementation,” he remarked.
“Regulations that are drastic pose serious challenges to our members, who are already facing unprecedented economic pressures.
“These measures not only threaten the viability of their businesses but also fail to address the root cause of smoking, which is the availability of cheap illegal cigarettes.
“We urge the Government to hold meaningful dialogue and consultations with the retail operators to ensure all views are taken into consideration before any decision is being made.”
Hong went on to stress that the sundry operators are not against MOH’s aim to come up with regulations to discourage smoking or vaping.
“However, the regulations need to be sensible, effective and balanced so that it can be enforced without significant impact to retail operations,” he stated. – Focus Malaysia

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