The Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill has been referred to a parliamentary particular select committee (PSSC) for further evaluation after its first presentation within the Dewan Rakyat. Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa acknowledged that the choice was made due to a number of suggestions from engagement periods held with government and non-governmental stakeholders that required extra consideration.
Dr Zaliha defined, “The Health Ministry has gotten the approval by the Cabinet to table the Bill for its first studying. On your tables, you will find the blue Bill which proves the government’s commitment. However, taking into Remote performed with the Health PSSC on June 6, and in addition with MPs, professionals and non-governmental organisations, we discovered that there have been a couple of issues which have been requested for evaluate and finetuning.”
She additional emphasised the significance of the Bill and the necessity for full assist from all events. The Health Ministry has advised that the Bill be referred to the PSSC for additional scrutiny, because the committee features as a check-and-balance system that takes into consideration views from all events.
Dr Zaliha assured that the Health Ministry is committed to seeing the Bill by way of and ensuring its approval in the nearest time-frame. After tabling the Bill, she referred it to the PSSC for further evaluate.
The Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill, which includes the Generational End Game (GEG) policy, was initially tabled in August last yr by Dr Zaliha’s predecessor, Khairy Jamaluddin. At that time, the Bill was also referred to the PSSC for review. However, its retabling was delayed because of the dissolution of Parliament on October 10 and the next 15th basic election..