NEW Managing Director of Demerara Tobacco Limited (Demtoco), Jamaican-born, Christopher Brown, says he intends to ensure that the company is legally compliant with the recently established Tobacco Control Act.
Brown told a reception on Wednesday evening at a cocktail event hosted at the Marriott Hotel that the company is actively working towards meeting the February 25, 2019 deadline by which all stakeholders in the industry should become compliant.
The legislation aims to protect both present and future generations from the harms of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. Among the main provisions of the Act is ensuring 100 per cent smoke-free environments in all indoor public spaces, indoor work spaces, public transportation, and specified indoor spaces to protect persons from exposure to tobacco smoke.
The Act also mandates that health warnings be featured on 60 per cent of the packaging for tobacco products while there will be a ban on all forms of advertising, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products among other guidelines.
“We have received those regulations and we have prepared all the requisite labeling and packaging arrangements going from those regulations that need now to be placed on our pack. That aspect of the regulation doesn’t come into effect until February of 2019 so we are now in the process of producing, transforming and getting our packs to be compliant with those new regulatory requirements,” Brown stated.
He also added that Demtoco has already begun working with its stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition in the near future.
“We have already sensitised the customers, our retailers and wholesalers of how the new packs are going to look in terms of the graphic, pictorial and health images that will be on them and other matters that were changed,” the Managing Director said, adding:
“They have some concerns and they have questions and that is why we have had sessions with them to educate them and to advise them and to hear their questions. Where we ourselves cannot answer, we have our legal counsel both locally and globally who helps us to walk through those issues.”
However, the company still faces its share of challenges which Brown detailed, relates to rouge brands on the market. “What has been challenging, however, is the increase that we have noticed in products that are not complying with the respective labeling and packaging tax stamps regime that has been rolled out in the country.
“We find that there are other brands from other jurisdictions that are seeping into Guyana that are not playing on the level playing field as it relates to complying with the laws of Guyana.”
Brown added that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is aware of the issues and has met with the company on several occasions as they work towards addressing the issues.
Questioned whether the pending removal custodial sentences for small quantities of marijuana in Guyana would present competition to the company, Brown stated: “That is not an issue that I would want to be concerned with at this time. I believe that’s an issue that the government is reviewing and when they have made that decision then we will understand the direction that we are going in.”
Brown replaces former Demtoco Managing Director, Maurlain Kirton and during his remarks to the gathering, promised to govern fairly, the local industry in Guyana. “We are big on compliance, we are big on respecting and adhering to the law and we are big on supporting fair competition, reasonable business practices and as a major contributor of government revenues and taxes, we believe in equity and a level playing field across the industry,” he stated.
Demtoco is charged with providing marketing support to the British American Tobacco Group brands sold in Guyana. The Company was established in Guyana in 1934 and became a public entity in 1960, offering shares for local investors.
