Issue licence to tobacco vendors: NLSIU report

BENGALURU: Adopting a licensing system for the sale of cigarettes, bidis and chewing tobacco products will regulate their accessibility and facilitate effective enforcement of tobacco control laws and policies, recommended the National Law School of India University. In a report submitted to the Union Health Ministry on February 25, the premier institution recommended that retailers and wholesalers should a licence to sell tobacco products which will help protect people from becoming addicted to tobacco products.

Titled “Framework for Implementation of Tobacco Vendor Licensing in India”, the report put forward a model vendor licensing framework and said that licensing sellers is critical to regulate accessibility to tobacco products. The report, released by the Chair on Consumer Law and Practice, examined the practice and procedure on vendor licensing adopted by various states and cities in India. “The harmful effects of tobacco use are well-established and accepted globally.

Through this report, NLSIU has recommended a model legal framework for sale of tobacco products through licensed vendors based on the existing law and global best practices. We hope that state and municipal governments will consider these recommendations to safeguard Indians, especially children and youth, from these killer products,” said Prof Dr Ashok R Patil, Professor of Law and Research Head, NLSIU, the Chair on Consumer Law and Practice, Bengaluru. Convenor of Anti Tobacco Forum (Mysuru), Vasanthkumar Mysoremath said “It is imperative to make tobacco products inaccessible to youth and children to save them from misery and suffering.”