The 100-day countdown until the government’s ban on displaying tobacco products in large retail stores comes into effect is now underway, meaning the UK’s largest grocers have just three months to ensure they have their shops in order. New legislation announced last March ruled that large stores over 3,000 sq ft will have to hide cigarettes and other tobacco products under the counter or in closed cabinets, with the aim of changing attitudes to smoking and reducing promotion of these products.

While smaller retailers, including thousands of convenience stores nationwide, have been ordered to meet the new criteria by April 6th 2015, larger enterprises such as supermarket superstores must comply by the same date this year.

Retail establishments will be prohibited from displaying tobacco goods to the public except on occasions, for instance when staff need to serve customers or when they are carrying out stock control or cleaning.

On hearing the announcement in 2011, retail representative groups bemoaned the extra expense the new legislation would create, with the British Retail Consortium adding there was “no evidence” to suggest hiding these products would reduce the number of people who smoke.

But even if reluctant, the major supermarkets have embarked on a strategy to remove tobacco displays in their stores, and April’s deadline is set to be met in good time.

A spokesperson for leading grocer Sainsbury’s told Retail Gazette: “We will be using gantries in our larger stores to ensure that tobacco products are not on display.

“Alongside this we will be thoroughly training our colleagues to ensure they comply with the relevant legislation. We are confident that we can meet the requirements of the legislation whilst at the same time still providing great service for customers.”

Co-operative Food said that it will be “fully compliant” with the legislation by April, and it is fitting sliding doors to gantries to hide its tobacco displays.

The UK’s supermarket groups also operate a large number of smaller convenience stores such as Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local. Unlike the larger stores in their portfolio, many of these shops do not have to meet the new guidelines until 2015.

“With regard to smaller stores we will of course listen to any feedback we receive from customers, colleagues and the authorities to ensure that by 2015 we again have a solution that not only meets the requirements of the legislation but also ensures we are still able to provide a quality service,” the Sainsbury’s spokesperson added.

Welcoming the government’s decision to ban tobacco displays in retail outlets, CEO of the Action on Smoking and Health charity Deborah Arnott said that it was the right time for a change.

“For far too long large, colourful tobacco displays right by the sweets in shops have promoted cigarettes to children and made smoking seem part of everyday life,” she explained.

“Removing these displays is a critical element of the government’s comprehensive strategy to protect children from the harm caused by tobacco.”

Similar moves were made in the Republic of Ireland in 2009, five years after the country became the first European nation to fully ban smoking in the workplace.

Arnott added: “Retailers have nothing to fear, the evidence from Ireland when the legislation was implemented there was that committed smokers still knew where to buy cigarettes and didn’t need to see the displays to decide what they wanted to buy.”

The UK’s largest retailer, Tesco, said today that it is trialling a new kiosk display in a small number of stores ahead of the introduction of the new legislation.

Serving the Tampa Bay area since 2004, MJM Fine Cigars and Tobacco offers customers access to some of the world’s most rare and hard to find tobacco products. Owner Michael McCarthy, who has been in the tobacco industry since the 1980s, created MJM Fine Cigars and Tobacco seven years ago because he thought there was a need for such a shop in the area. McCarthy says MJM is a full-line traditional tobacconist that carries cigars from more than 75 different manufacturers and features more than 1,000 open boxes. The store also carries more than 500 tobacco pipes and 16 hand-blended custom pipe tobacco recipes.

McCarthy says MJM is unique because the store stocks many small-batch, rare boutique cigars and pipe tobaccos. The store has the ability to obtain the rarest of tobacco products — with the exception of Cuban cigars, which have been illegal since 1963. McCarthy says there really aren’t many products he can’t acquire for his customers.

Like many small businesses across the country, MJM was affected by the hard economic times. In order to accommodate the economic changes, McCarthy adjusted his inventory and purchasing patterns.

“Thank God, our local customers and many throughout the country continue to support us despite the economic conditions,” McCarthy said. “We remain eternally optimistic in America and its ability to bounce back.”

Despite the shaky economy, MJM continues to offer special events at the shop.

“Our monthly events continue to be successful and are a great way for our customers to not only meet industry leaders, but to sample new products all while saving some significant dollars,” McCarthy said.

Come Jan 1, first-time offenders caught with contraband cigarettes will face at least a S$2,000 fine if they are taken to court. And drivers of vehicles using compressed natural gas (CNG) must also ensure their fuel tank is three-quarters full when travelling to Malaysia. These are some of the changes in the new Customs Act that was passed by Parliament yesterday, enhancing enforcement and administration of the legislation.

You want to smoke legal cigarettes? Than buy marlboro cigarettes online from Europe for cheap price.

The Minister of State (Finance), Mrs Josephine Teo, said the number of tobacco-related customs offences jumped by about 24 per cent from 2005 to last year.

The number of repeat offenders during the same period also rose by more than six times.

Repeat offenders will be fined a minimum of S$4,000 under the new law, double the current sum. Those who bring in more than 2kg of contraband tobacco products will be packed off to jail.

Mrs Teo explained that the doubling of court fines for first-time offenders was also necessary because the current minimum penalty could sometimes be lower than the composition sum for minor offences.

Under the new law, Singapore Customs will also be armed with greater powers against those who do not pay up or exploit others.

It will be able to appoint a taxpayer’s bank or employer to recover unpaid duties. And those who commit minor customs offences but do not pay their composition fines will be automatically taken to court.

Traders who furnish false information to third-party agents making declarations on consignments on their behalf will also be liable. Currently, only those who make the false declarations are liable.

Another change relates to the disclosure of information by Singapore Customs to other domestic public agencies.

Currently, all declarations by traders are strictly confidential to protect sensitive commercial data. The information can only be disclosed with their consent or if the information is needed for an investigation, enforcement or prosecution under the Customs Act or the Goods and Services Tax Act.

But Mrs Teo said there may be “over-riding reasons” for such information to be given to other public agencies here, for instance, when national security, public health and safety are concerned.

The change allows information declared by traders to be provided, with safeguards, where public interests are concerned.

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe’s largest cigarette maker, raised 600 million euros ($828 million) from its first bond sale in 16 months. The 10-year securities were priced to yield 123 basis points more than the benchmark swap rate, according to a banker with knowledge of the transaction. That compares with a spread of 105 basis points that investors demand to hold the London- based company’s 4 percent bonds due 2020 it issued in June last year, Bloomberg Bond Trader prices show.

The maker of Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes sold bonds as European leaders hold emergency talks to ensure their week-old strategy to combat the region’s debt crisis doesn’t unwind. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou rattled markets after announcing a parliamentary confidence vote and his desire for a referendum on the bailout plan for his country.

“Given market uncertainty it is prudent to consider issuing some longer-term debt when the window of opportunity presents itself to pre-fund 2012,” Catherine Armstrong, a London-based spokeswoman for BAT, said in an e-mailed statement. “We intend to take advantage of any windows of opportunity in November to access the markets, but as our ability to access the market is headline and sentiment driven, timing is uncertain.”

Barclays Capital, Citigroup Inc., ING Groep NV and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc managed the sale. The notes were issued by B.A.T. International Finance Plc.

The tobacco company said investor demand was for bonds with maturities in the 2018 to 2022 areas.

The Jones County Board of Education was recognized by the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life at the beginning of last week’s meeting for the 100 percent participation of the schools in the event. Leslie Poythress, who is the chairman of Jones County Relay For Life, presented the award to School Superintendent William Mathews at the Oct. 11 meeting. Poythress said the school system raised $46,973 for the Relay in 2011 and $211,866 over the past five years.

“This shows how much the school system supports this effort,” she said.

Mathews said Relay For Life is a unifying event that the school system has been a part of from day one.

“We are glad to be a part of it,” he added.

During his superintendent’s report, Mathews said the fall break that took place the previous week came at a good time for students and teachers. He said Wells Elementary is the school system’s largest elementary school, and the recent expansion was needed.

More than a half million Costa Ricans or a quarter of the population are addicted to tobacco, many of them will die from their addiction. A half century ago, while the Cold War was at its peak and Americans and Soviets competed for conquering space, television was the technological boom. Until then nobody smoked. Or at least we thought. But, that all changed when we saw the Beatles and Ricky Ricardo smoke on the tube, and including physicians promoting smoking in our living rooms

Fifty years later the world has changed and so has Costa Rica.

Today in many major American cities smoking is banned in public places, including restaurants and even in parks. In some states you cannot smoke in your vehicle.

In Costa Rica there is a lot of talk about the ills of smoking and a feeble effort to reduce smoking. Legislators are currently sitting idle on a law that would greatly limit where one can smoke, but that seems to be going up in smoke as there is little will power to move forward with it.

According to the Instituto sobre Alcoholismo y Farmacodependencia (IAFA), some 580.000 people over the age of 12 are addicted to the cigarette and 75% of them are men, consuming some 2.000.000 cigarettes each year.

Construction of broadband infrastructure and investment in industry, education and tourism were among the projects for which nearly $49 million in funding was approved by the Virginia Tobacco Commission on Thursday. In education, the biggest non-scholarship program approved for Southwest Virginia was $600,000 to help Emory & Henry College start a doctor of physical therapy program in Marion. This was short of the $1.1 million requested.

Speaking to the commission, College President Rosalind Reichard said, “We find that it will be probably difficult for us to start that program up next fall without additional funding.”

After the meeting, however, she said she believes the college can raise the funds – and will go ahead with its plan to open next fall.

“We’ve got to do it,” she said. “We’ll find a way.”

Among the other highlights in education, Virginia Intermont College was awarded close to $150,000 to help with expansion plans and Virginia Highlands Community College was awarded $110,000 for a cadaver lab.

David Matlock, vice president of institutional advancement for the community college, said the lab will enable Southwest Virginia students in the health care field to compete on par with those from Northern Virginia.

The commission approved a significant amount for the development of fiber-optic infrastructure: $1.8 million for Bristol Virginia Utilities, $2.5 million for the Virginia Coalfield Coalition and $1 million for the Scott County Telephone Cooperative.

It approved a $2.2 million research and development grant for a company called CavitroniX, which is working through the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center and Clean Energy R&D Center to develop new products in Southwest Virginia.

Edwin Rogers, director of the energy center, said the company plans to locate a facility in either Bristol, Washington County or Smyth County to make a product that improves the efficiency of oil furnaces, ultimately creating 48 jobs by 2015.

The commission also approved money for industrial development projects in Russell, Scott and Smyth counties, and $300,000 for People Incorporated to make small business loans in Southwest Virginia.

In Washington County, the commission approved $147,500 for a road project at the county fairground and $43,350 for restoration work at White’s Mill, a historic grist mill outside Abingdon.

In Wise, the commission approved $1.25 million for the restoration of the Wise Inn, an old downtown hotel that has been promoted as a way to help draw industrial prospects to the coalfield region.

There was some controversy in the area of tourism, as the tobacco commission approved some projects and tabled others to consider how it sorts through requests. Parks and clinics were among those delayed until a later meeting.

Speaking for the commission’s Southwest Economic Development Committee, Sen. Phillip Puckett said they will be discussed later this year in terms of whether they fit into the commission’s strategic plan.

During the public comment period of the meeting, J.B. Swiger of Scott County made a case for why they should be considered.

“If you’re going to invite the tourists in and they go to the Carter Fold [or another area attraction] and there’s nothing else for them to do, they leave and go … back home,” he said. “This is a very vital project.”

Chairman Terry Kilgore said after the meeting that many communities have parks and the commission can’t afford to help fund one in every town. In order to draw tobacco commission funding, he said, “It needs to be able to bring tourism to the area.”

Two projects that did receive funding are the construction of a water park at the Breaks Interstate Park, which was approved for $500,000, and the Spearhead Trails initiative, which received $200,000 toward the creation of a multi-use trail system.

A 10-district survey in Tamil Nadu has revealed several violations in packaging, display and pricing of smokeless tobacco products, a health NGO has said. The study was initiated to ascertain whether the Supreme Court order banning the use of plastic packaging on such products had come into effect from the stipulated date of March 1, this year.

Late last year, the Court had decreed that plastic sachets should not be used to package gutka and pan masala products. This was followed up by a Ministry of Environment and Forests notification to the same effect in February 2011.

The survey was conducted in Kancheepuram, Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Perambalur, Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Sivaganga, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar, according to Saulina Arnold, executive director, Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association, the organisation that conducted the study.

Across these districts, the surveyors found that sachets manufactured after March 1, 2011 still were made of plastic. Among the samples, there were several brands being sold with new plastic packaging, but without carrying the manufacturing date and batch number. “We also found that the products were being sold at 50 to 100 times the maximum retail price. In some instances, the vendors told us that they were forced to do so, as they are charged a higher rate by retailers,” she said.

Awareness lacking

Again, out of 100 vendors interviewed for the study, not even one was aware of the new rule for selling gutka/pan masala in plastic packages. “Neither vendors nor consumers were aware that it is a punishable offence. At some level, it is the responsibility of the government to disseminate information on new rules to the relevant community and among the general public,” Dr. Saulina said.

Cause of concern

“We are really worried about the way the lobby is working to attract the youth, presenting these tobacco products as mouth fresheners. There are anywhere between 75,000 and 80,000 users as far as available statistics go. These forms of tobacco can be extremely dangerous for users, and more recently, younger and younger people are presenting with head and neck cancer caused by smokeless tobacco use,” she added.

British American tobacco Plc’s (BTI: News ,BATS.L: News ) six-month pre-tax profit grew to 2.79 billion pounds from 2.28 billion pounds last year. Profit attributable to owners of the parent amounted to 1.87 billion pounds versus 1.525 billion pounds a year ago. Earnings per share for the half year were 94.0 pence, higher than 76.5 pence in the year earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share for the six-month period improved to 96.1 pence from 87.1 pence in the prior year.

The Group’s reported revenue increased 2 percent to 7.44 billion pounds from 7.30 billion pounds in the comparable period. However, organic revenue at constant rates of exchange grew by 7 percent to 7.42 billion pounds, as a result of continued good pricing momentum.

The board declared an interim dividend of 38.1 pence per ordinary share of 25 pence for the six months ended 30 June 2011, payable on 28 September 2011 to shareholders registered on either the UK main register or the South African branch register on 19 August 2011.