The tobacco industry has cautiously welcomed the announcement that cigarettes can be sold from Tuesday, but the ban on trade for five months has left it reeling.
The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association , which primarily represents local manufacturers, on Friday won the right for the Supreme Court of Appeal to hear its bid to overturn the lockdown ban on tobacco sales.
The organisation said it met President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement on Saturday night that the ban would be lifted as part of a move to level 2 of lockdown from Tuesday “with a degree of caution”. “The president has previously, on April 23 2020, made a similar announcement only for government to do a U-turn on their initial decision and instead maintain the ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products. We will accordingly be awaiting the publication of the regulations in relation to lockdown level 2 following the president’s announcement that we will be shifting to this level.
“The announcement comes a bit late in the day as the ban has been in place for almost five months, despite our best efforts to try to engage government on this particular issue, and its devastating effects on the tobacco industry along its value chain will be felt for months if not years to come. “We will be consulting with our legal team in the days to come with regards to a proposed way forward in relation to inter alia our court application challenging the cigarette sales ban at all levels of the lockdown period,” said Fita.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Restaurant Association of SA cheers while hurt tobacco industry is waryThe tobacco industry has cautiously welcomed the announcement that cigarettes can be sold from Tuesday, but the ban on trade for five months has left it reeling.
Read more »
BREAKING NEWS: SA moves to level 2 as alcohol and tobacco bans are liftedThe ban on tobacco sales has cost SA over R4bn in uncollected excise taxes, while the prohibition on the trade of alcohol has devastated a R140bn industry
Read more »
Tobacco firms to fight sales ban at Supreme Court of AppealThe Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) is still in the fight to overturn the lockdown ban on tobacco sales after the Supreme Court of Appeal agreed to hear its case.
Read more »
Tobacco firms to fight sales ban at Supreme Court of AppealThe Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) is still in the fight to overturn the lockdown ban on tobacco sales after the Supreme Court of Appeal agreed to hear its case.
Read more »
Supreme Court grants FITA leave to appeal lockdown tobacco ban judgmentThe Supreme Court of Appeal has granted the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) leave to appeal the high court dismissal of its legal challenge to the ban on tobacco sales, the association said.
Read more »
Taxi industry welcomes ruling giving government powers to deal with associationsSpokesperson for the Tshwane South African National Taxi Council, McDonald Makata said the industry has tried several measures to totally eliminate shootings and murders within the industry but they still happened.
Read more »