Cabinet has approved the principles for amending the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Act, paving the way for an overhaul of legislation that has long been criticised as outdated and ill-suited to the modern tobacco industry.
The proposed reforms are intended to align the law with developments in contract farming, research, corporate governance and evolving tobacco products, while closing legal gaps that have emerged since the Act was last amended in 1997.
Originally enacted in 1977, the legislation was designed around a traditional auction-floor marketing system and has struggled to keep pace with changes in the sector, including contract farming, global health obligations and emerging nicotine technologies.
The existing legal framework has also been criticised for lacking adequate provisions to deal with contract breaches and side-marketing, where contracted farmers sell tobacco to third parties. These shortcomings have previously forced the government to rely on temporary measures, including Statutory Instrument 77 of 2022, to plug legal loopholes.
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The principles for the amendment were presented to Cabinet by the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, Dr Anxious Masuka.
"The resulting Act will address the several changes that have occurred in the nature of the industry since the last amendment in 1997.
"More specifically, the amendment will allow the Tobacco Research Board to trade under a name which shows its expanded scope, including conducting research on both manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco products," said Masuka.
Masuka said the proposed amendments would also strengthen the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board's regulatory oversight while aligning the legislation with the provisions of the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act and the Public Finance Management Act.
"The amendment has been necessitated by the need to reflect the growing and diverse nature of tobacco and associated crops research and production, to provide support to farmers through extension and capacity building, to undertake research on manufactured tobacco and to provide research services to farmers and other stakeholders," he added.
