BANNING the display of cigarettes and vape products will only add a huge financial burden to the  sundry shops, said their association today.

The Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia (FSGMAM) said while it understood the government’s aim is to discourage smoking and vaping, such measures however will also impose a deeper hole in their pockets.

The association was referring to recent discussions over the Health Ministry’s proposal on 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).

The association urges the government to hold consultations over the proposed measures.

“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,” said the association president Hong Chee Meng in a statement today.

“It also creates complexity to the sundry operations. As retail operators will have to make adjustments to cover the products and keep them out of sight, this means 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 colour 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.

The association said the government must 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.

“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,” said Hong.

Hong also said that the association had written twice to the Health Ministry 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 said that such regulations pose serious challenges to sundry show owners, who are already facing unprecedented economic pressures.

“We wish to make it clear that the sundry operators are not against the ministry’s aim to come up with regulations that discourage smoking or vaping. But the regulations need to be sensible, effective and balanced so that it can be enforced without significant impact to the retail operations,” he added. – April 24, 2024.