News • February 29 2004

Stakeholders should have been consulted on smoking ban – Edwin Vassallo

Karl Schembri

Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo disapproves of the way Health Minister Louis Deguara is passing anti-smoking regulations. He told MaltaToday that had there been consultation with stakeholders, the smoking ban controversy would have been avoided. Dr Deguara will be meeting the GRTU next Friday.
Asked whether he was consulted by the minister before the new regulations were drafted, Mr Vassallo said: “No…I think it’s a question of mentality change which the government has to go through. The government is still learning and it still has to understand that consultation is necessary all the time.
“Had there been consultation we wouldn’t be experiencing this. It should be the right work practice for whoever is in politics to consult all stakeholders from the very start of any decision process. That is the new rule of governability.
“We can’t keep imposing our decisions from our offices … Politics has to be business-like, we have to take decisions according to our clients’ needs. If in business the customer is always right, the same applies to politics. Laws shouldn’t be there only to regulate but also serve the different interests of our society.”
Mr Vassallo, who is in charge of small enterprises and the self-employed within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Services, added that one should be extremely cautious when passing regulations which could lead to the withdrawal of trading licences.
“I feel that we gave a lot of importance to licences when we passed the Trading Licence laws. In today’s world one should be very careful about regulations which can lead to the removal of such licences. We have to be extremely careful.”
The anti-smoking regulations which should come into force in April have come under heavy criticism from businesses, with the General Retailers and Traders’ Association threatening to defy the law if it remains unchanged.
According to the regulations, smokers in enclosed public places including bars, nightclubs, restaurants, offices and work premises, risk a minimum Lm100 fine. The owners of the premises can face up to three months imprisonment and a withdrawal of their trading licence.
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association accused the minister of arrogance for passing the legal notice without consulting anyone last September, claiming the regulations will affect businesses negatively.
The Chamber of Commerce also criticised the government.
“The Chamber cannot but voice its serious concern that these regulations hold the proprietor or the management of a place of business responsible for anybody unlawfully smoking in their property,” it said in a statement last week. “In this particular case, it is the act of smoking that should put someone in breach of the law and not the act of owning or managing an office, restaurant, hotel or any other public building.”
The health minister however defended his decision: “Unless somebody has a new definition of what democracy is all about, the new law actually reflects the expressed wish of over 80 per cent of the Maltese public in respect of the introduction of smoking restrictions while respecting the right to smoke of the other 20 per cent.
“It is amusing how while the government is often accused of procrastinating, wasting time in endless discussions and hiding behind bureaucracy, it is now likewise being accused, albeit by those with a vested interest, of arrogance when it acts with determination and purely in the public interest.
“The legal notice is intended as a just compromise between the sacrosanct right of any individual to smoke and harm himself but not others, and the equally sacrosanct right of non-smokers to a smoke-free environment. Unfortunately there are some who for personal or financial gain do not uphold this belief.”
Asked whether he would intervene to solve the impasse, Mr Vassallo said: “Given that I wasn’t consulted I think that whatever I say will be interpreted as interference. Retailers discussed these regulations with me. If I’m consulted by the ministry concerned (the Health Ministry) for my views I will give them, but at this point there are discussions going on between the health ministry and stakeholders and I wouldn’t want to duplicate work. We prepare our business impact assessments of all the regulations and laws coming out of this ministry; I hope that everyone learns from this experience and adopts the best practice.”

karl@newsworksltd.com