In the last hours, a strong controversy has been generated between the government and the opposition, due to the decision of the Executive to approve a Decree that modifies articles 7, 8 and 10 of Decree No. 120 of April 2019 (related to neutral packaging and labeling). or generic of all tobacco products and cigarettes) of former President Tabaré Vázquez.
The modifications proposed by the current government allow the introduction of the “soft box”, the identification of the brand on the cigarette, and establish sanctions for merchants who sell contraband cigarettes, who may be sentenced to six months in prison.
The Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas, said that through the new Decree there are no changes at the tax level, nor in the warning pictograms on the boxes. “The pictograms will remain the same, as well as the prohibition of stamping advertising on tobacco packages.”
Regarding the possibility of including the brand in the cigarette filter, the Secretary of State said that this is to differentiate the national cigarette from the imported one, in each unit that is being smoked.
He stressed that there will also be fines for selling contraband cigarettes, which did not exist before, for which he remarked that “rather than making it more flexible, what it does is make control more rigid” over cigarettes.
In addition, he noted that consumption taxes continue.
Quality controls
“It is not a matter of benefiting the tobacco industry, but of benefiting the consumer, in the sense that they consume a product that, although it is harmful to health, such as tobacco, but, ultimately, has the quality controls that we demand in Uruguay”, he said.
