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Auckland, March 18, 2020
The New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores (NZACS) is pushing back on proposed restrictions by the government, which it said unfairly punishes thousands of small businesses, creating an uneven playing field.
The Smoke-free Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill would severely restrict general retailers of vaping products to only three flavours- tobacco, mint and menthol, Association Executive Director Dave Hooker said.
The argument is that the current process of rushing the vaping law changes through a two-week submission window will make for bad law.
The Association has called on all existing retailers of vaping products to lodge submissions to the Health Committee online portal before it closes on April 1, 2020.
Adverse circumstances
Mr Hooker said that the timing could not be worse for small business convenience stores as they face rapidly escalating uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising costs of doing business and impending minimum wage increases.
“The government’s $12.1 billion cash injection announced on March 17, 2020 was fantastic, with supporting business continuity and employment at its core. This package has been announced “in the fight to support Kiwis’ jobs.” So, we would ask, ‘why create unnecessary upheaval through these vaping proposals?’
“This rushed change to the laws on vaping does the opposite to what the Government is striving for with the support package. Instead, it means that the local vaping industry cannot properly plan for the future or supply-chain impacts, and small businesses face losing customers,” he said.
Unfair disadvantage
Mr Hooker said that while the government acknowledges that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking, and that flavours play an important role in helping adult smokers quit smoking, it does not seem right that they will place such restrictions on stores at the coalface of encouraging smokers to switch.
“The restrictions on convenience stores creates an unfair commercial disadvantage for those dairies, petrol stations, liquor stores, and tobacconists and will not help Kiwi smokers. Many of New Zealand’s small business retailers have already converted dozens of customers from smoking to vaping instead, helping the Government’s Smoke free 2025 goal,” he said.
According to Mr Hooker, the Vaping Bill says that it aims to protect children and young people, while encouraging all existing smokers to switch.
Financial hit
Unfortunately, a tech-savvy 16-year-old will still be able to easily source vaping products online with no ID, but a 54-year-old smoker from Kerikeri or Ruatoria who shops from their corner dairy will be denied access to vaping flavours which are proven to help smokers quit, he said.
“As more and more smokers make the switch to vaping, convenience stores want to be a part of this transition to help support their business, diversify out of tobacco, and to play their part in Smoke-free 2025. Instead of a level playing field, they now face the prospect of losing not only vaping sales, but those customers entire shopping carts – a huge financial hit on small business,” Mr Hooker said.
If you are interested in making a submission, you can do so online before April 1, 2020 at
For more information on NZACS visit https://www.nzacs.com/
