The CCSA Blog

WHAT ARE WE ACTING ON?

PLAIN AND STANDARDIZED PACKAGING

The Act mandates the same colours, fonts and format for all packaging – and no logos. Let’s make sure legal tobacco products are identifiable and easy to tell apart from illegal products.

COSTS FOR RETRO-FIT AND TIGHT DEADLINES

Retailers have nine months to become fully compliant. Nine months to plan and implement new shelving, storage and planograms and educate clerks on the new regulations.

We urge the government to extend the implementation timeline to 12-18 months.

REMOVAL OF DISTINGUISHING MARKS

The CCSA retailer survey, as Health Canada noted in their assessment of the impact of S–5 regulations on small businesses, only pertains to the cost of plain – not standardized – packaging.

Preliminary discussions with retailers, particularly small independent stores, points to potential costs of $1,500 per store to retro-fit their current shelves to accommodate slide and shell packaging only.

These concerns are further compounded by accelerated timelines outlined in the regulations.

We recommend that Health Canada put a hold on implementing standardized packaging until a thorough assessment of the costs and implications (i.e, impact on the contraband market) has been conducted.

SPEAKING OUT

Final regulations are currently being drafted. From now until October 31st, there is an opportunity to influence these regulations

As a business owner in a democratic country, you have a right to share your comments and concerns with your political representative.

HOW CAN I REACH MY MP?

The Advocacy Tool Kit provides you with three different ways to engage your political representatives in less than 5 minutes!

By email

By Letter

By Phone