PARLIAMENT | The Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, which was expected to be voted on in the Dewan Rakyat today, will instead be sent to a newly formed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for fine-tuning first.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin tabled a motion to send the bill to a PSC right after he completed his winding-up speech for the bill’s second reading in the August House today.
The PSC will be tasked with making recommendations related to enforcement and penalties under the bill.
It will also examine suggestions raised by MPs during the policy debates for the bill as well as recommendations put forth by the PSC on Health, Science and Innovation and the PSC on Women and Children’s Affairs and Social Development.
Lastly, the committee will prepare a report containing proposals to improve the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill within one month.
The PSC can extend the deadline if they wish to, Khairy (above) said, but the report must be prepared before the start of the next parliamentary sitting this year.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had earlier urged the government to send the bill to be examined by a PSC led by Khairy.
The Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 was tabled for its second reading in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
In tabling the bill for second reading, Khairy announced that it would be amended to incorporate suggestions from two bipartisan committees - the PSC on Women, Children, and Social Development led by Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said, and the PSC on Health, Science, and Innovation led by Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.
A section of the bill – widely known as the ‘Generation End Game’ (GEG) – seeks to make it unlawful to sell tobacco products and smoking devices to those born from Jan 1, 2007, onwards, with the ban starting in 2025.
Aside from the GEG provisions, the bill also includes various regulations to control the sale of tobacco and vape products, which have been in the works since 2005. - Mkini
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