Dubai:–. For the first time, JTI (Japan Tobacco International) takes part at the world renowned Gulf Food exhibition with the Stand “The Future of Brands” (www.thefutureofbrands.com). A stand designed for food and drinks companies with brands facing tougher regulations and are at risk of being excluded from discussions on their industries’ future.

“JTI has been on the front line to encourage dialogue between industry and regulators for many years. We believe that businesses need to have a voice in regulatory decision-making and we encourage more governments to organize meaningful consultations with all relevant stakeholders when considering new regulations”, says Graham Gibbons, JTI’s Vice President and General Manager Middle East. “An open dialogue between Businesses and Governments fosters an environment for regulations that are fit for purpose. This generates business confidence in the operating environment and therefore fuels further economic growth,” added Gibbons.

To Graham, companies across different sectors are invited to help promote regulations that will be in the public interest, supported by evidence, and ‘fit for purpose’. To him, the UAE has always been a regional leader in establishing such a balanced, modern regulatory framework and ‘developing such a dialogue here will be of great benefit for all stakeholders and consumers in the GCC’.

Food and drinks companies are subject to taxes, pictorial health warnings and even ‘plain’ packaging – a measure which bans any form of branding on packs. Whether it’s a soda drink, an energy drink, a chocolate bar, excessive regulation not only impacts large product manufacturers but also small and medium enterprises, including design and packaging businesses. 

“In some markets, regulators ‘copy-paste’ tobacco-style regulations into other sectors without considering the effects, the degree and extent of success”, adds Hadi Sleiman, JTI’s Corporate Affairs and Communication Director Middle East. “In Australia, the first country to implement plain packaging for tobacco products in 2012, the latest Government data shows that the long term downward trend in smoking prevalence came to a halt between 2013 and 2016[i]. Plain packaging hasn’t changed whether people smoke, it has changed what they smoke. Between two products, smokers now choose the cheapest. This includes illegal tobacco, which has increased by over 20% after the introduction of the policy”, he concludes.

Agnès Buzyn, French Minister of Health, recently acknowledged that plain packaging isn’t working and admitted that she was always opposed to the policy[ii]. Official data released on January 29, one year after the measure was implemented in France, indeed confirms that cigarettes sales remained stable in 2017[iii].  

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For further information, please contact:

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JTI is a leading international tobacco company with operations in more than 120 countries. It is the global owner of both Winston, the number two cigarette brand in the world, and Camel outside the USA and has the largest share in sales for both brands. Other global brands include Mevius and LD. With its internationally recognized brand Logic, JTI is also a major player in the e-cigarette market and has, since 2011, been present in the heated tobacco category with Ploom. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, JTI employs close to 40,000 people and was awarded Global Top Employer for four consecutive years. JTI is a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies. For more information, visit www.jti.com .

[i] On May 31 2017, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its figures for the first full three-year period since plain packaging was introduced on tobacco products in December 2012. Figures show that “…while smoking rates have been on a long-term downward trend, for the first time in over two decades, the daily smoking rate did not significantly decline over the most recent 3 year period (2013 to 2016)”: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/ndshs-2016-key-findings/contents/highlights-from-the-2016-survey 

[ii] On November 29 in response to a Member of Parliament who interrogated her on the efficiency of the measure during the second vote on the Social Security finance bill

[iii] Source: Cigarette sales on a constant delivery basis, in Tableaux de bord mensuel des indicateurs tabac de l’OFDT (Observatoire français des drogues et des toxicomanies), January 29, 2018

© Press Release 2018