Producers of alcoholic beverages and business operators in the tourism sector are stepping up their fight against the government's plan to introduce a regulation regarding graphic health warnings against alcohol.
They said the regulation would hurt their businesses and run counter to the government's policy to promote soft power.
Representatives from the businesses on Wednesday handed a letter opposing the regulation to Sittiphol Viboonthanakul, a Move Forward Party (MFP) list MP and chairman of the House committee on economic development at parliament.
Charoen Charoenchai, a lecturer at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, among those against the proposed warning labels, said the regulation was excessive. "State agencies do not care about the impacts of this extreme policy on business operators.
"People who are soft power producers will go out of business as they cannot afford the production costs of the graphic images," he said.
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Mr Sittiphol said the proposed regulation will hurt jobs and nightlife businesses and prevent local businesses from presenting their products. It will also affect the government's policy of promoting soft power.
Tosaporn Sererak, a Pheu Thai MP for Phrae and chairman of the House committee on public health, stressed the need to strike a balance between economic development and healthcare. The committee will work with the House committee on economic development on the issue, he said.
Initiated by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee and the Department of Disease Control, the regulation would require the makers of alcoholic beverages to put large, graphic images on every bottle they produce to warn the public of the dangers of drinking. It calls for graphic health warnings on the packaging, similar to those on cigarettes.
The rule earlier drew criticism from producers of alcoholic beverages, as well as businesses in the tourism sector, who doubt the requirement will have an impact on consumer behaviour. The public has until today to give their input on the regulation via the Council of State's website. The rule will come into effect 180 days after it is published in the Royal Gazette.
Under the regulation, the graphic warning will occupy at least one-third of the container. It will be accompanied by text warnings which warn the public of the dangers of excessive drinking, such as "Alcoholic beverages can cause cancer", or "Selling alcoholic beverages to people under 20 is punishable by imprisonment and a fine".
Danuporn Punnakan, a spokesman for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, said the party has disagreed with the regulation.
"Pheu Thai recognises the intention to limit young people's access to alcoholic beverages, but state agencies should consider proper criteria to achieve a balance between protection of young people and access to alcoholic beverages," he said.
Treechada Srithada, a spokeswoman of the Public Health Ministry, said on Wednesday that the proposed regulation is still subject to further revisions before it takes effect. After the public feedback procedure on the Council of State's website ends on Thursday, the regulation will be sent for fine-tuning by a subcommittee drafting the rule on March 5.
It will then be forwarded to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on March 11 and the National Alcoholic Beverage Policy Committee on March 28, she said. If approved by these committees, the rule will be presented to the Public Health Ministry for endorsement before it takes effect, she said.
She was responding to Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, an MFP MP for Bangkok, who claimed the regulation had already been approved by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee pending endorsement from Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew.