Paris, May 30th 2024
BAT France agrees with the World Health Organization : minors should not have access to or consume any nicotine products
On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2024, BAT France reaffirms its position that minors should neither smoke nor consume nicotine products of any kind. BAT France supports the World Health Organization (WHO) in its efforts to prevent access to and consumption of nicotine products by minors. World No Tobacco Day offers a time for anti-smoking lobby groups in France, and around the world, to reflect and reconsider their approach to smokeless products, and to recognize the role these products can play in helping smokers make a successful transition to reduced-risk alternatives[1].
BAT France has set out principles that should be applied for effective and impactful regulation relating to nicotine products.
- Access to consumer relevant products: regulators should ensure that these products are available under strict licensing rules in point of sales and trained to that order
- Robust Enforcement : regulation[3] should provide enforcement authorities with the necessary powers to apply penalties and sanctions to those who fail to comply regulations, particularly those who supply non-compliant products and provide product to those who are underage.
To support its vision of building a “Better Tomorrow”, BAT is continually strengthening its efforts to prevent the purchase of nicotine products by minors. BAT works closely with all its commercial partners (tobacconists, specialist vaping stores, online sites), implementing mandatory training and clear, appropriate -18 signage within points of sale. But even more robust solutions exist today, notably with the installation of facial recognition cameras to estimate the age of their customers at the point of sale.
France should base its National Tobacco Control Plan[4] on the principle of reducing the risks associated with smoking, and on an appropriate regulatory framework that will enable it to achieve its goal of a first tobacco-free generation by 2032.
[1]Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive.
Contact
Romain BAYLE
+33 620 497 554
romain_bayle@bat.com
About BAT
BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a purpose to build “A Better Tomorrow” by reducing the health impact of its business through offering less risky products for adult consumers.
The company continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives*†. In order to deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric multicategory consumer products business.
BAT’s ambition is to have 50 million consumers of its non-combustible products by 2030 and to generate £5billion of New Categories revenue by 2025. BAT has set stretching ESG targets including achieving carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 & 2 by 2030 and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic and making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
BAT employs over 53,000 people and operates in over 180 countries. The BAT Group generated revenue of £25.8 billion in 2020 and profit from operations of £9.9 billion.
The company’s Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-risk*† New Category tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non combustible tobacco products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products, modern oral products including tobacco-free nicotine pouches, as well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In 2020, we had 13.5 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 3 million on the year before.
* Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive.
† Our products as sold in the US, including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without FDA clearance.
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