| Summary: | Introduction
The government of the Netherlands aims to reduce the number of tobacco retailers. By doing so, she will alter how and where tobacco products will be on offer in the coming years. After banning tobacco sales through vending machines in 2022, the government is planning to ban tobacco sales via the internet (2023), in supermarkets (2024), and newsagents and petrol stations (after 2030). Ultimately, only the sale at tobacconists will be permitted. In addition, after 2025, the government will restrict the sale of electronic cigarettes to tobacconists. In this monitoring study, we will monitor the availability and price of tobacco products at different points of sale in the Netherlands.
Material and Methods
From 2022 onwards, we will annually monitor the availability and price of tobacco products in 8 randomly selected municipalities in the Netherlands. In 2022, observations (n=63) were held in supermarkets (n=28), news agents (n=17), petrol stations (n=12) and tobacconists (n=6). At each store, we assessed product availability and price of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco. We also assessed the availability of flavour-changing products.
Results
Data collected in this first year revealed that the variety of cigarette packages available in stores is larger than that of roll-your-own tobacco products. Also, the range of prices was broader among cigarette packages than among roll-your-own products. Flavor-changing products were widely available in tobacco retail settings in the Netherlands (in three-quarters of stores).
Conclusions
This monitor study will inform policy makers about some of the intended and unintended effects of measures to reduce the number of tobacco retail settings. It also helps gaining insight into some of the tactics used by de tobacco industry to circumvent the ban on flavored tobacco products.
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