If you think trying to keep a convenience store profitable is hard here, then spare a thought for your counterparts in the Netherlands: the Dutch House of Representatives has passed a bill (2 March) that aims to restrict sales of tobacco products to adults-only specialist stores that sell nothing else.
The bill now moves to the Dutch Senate. If passed, the law would give other retailers until the end of 2022 to eliminate tobacco sales voluntarily, after which it will become mandatory.
The Netherlands is a party to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global treaty that seeks “to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke”. It will host the biannual FCTC Conference of the Parties in November; the upcoming host country often passes strong anti-tobacco legislation in the run-up to the event.
If the bill becomes law, the Netherlands will have among the strongest tobacco retail legislation in the world. To date, only Bhutan has banned tobacco sales altogether. Two cities in California – Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach – have passed laws phasing out commercial tobacco sales by 1 January 2021.
Closer to home, the Scottish Government aims to create a tobacco-free generation by 2034.
