“Regulations often do not ensure the results desired by their author,” – stated Felicio Ferraz, General Manager of British American Tobacco in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova in the Business Morning TV show.
According to him, regulations that were set for tobacco product consumption, should be respected, however, they should be reasonable.
“Restrictions can not be transferred blindly. Market and situation are different in every country. They should be adapted to the reality to avoid the biggest threat – illegal trade, smuggling and surreptitious sale. For instance, in Panama 70% of the market was taken by smuggled products, the same happened in Surinam, once the regulations became effective. The volume of legal products reduce, but this does not mean that tobacco consumption decreases, the market gets filled with illegal products,” – stated Felicio Ferraz.
According to him, balance should be kept since 40% of adult population is smokers and in this situation rules and regulations should be planned reasonably.
