Senate Passes Bill to Validate Winding up of Tobacco Industry Control Authority

The Tobacco Industry Regulations (Validation and Indemnity) (Repeal) Act 2021, was passed in the Senate on April 23.

The legislation provides for the validation and confirmation of all acts in relation to the winding up of the Tobacco Industry Control Authority, including the divestment of assets, entering into contracts and the payment of redundancies to officers and servants.

It also provides for the indemnification of persons against liability arising out of their carrying out such acts and repealing the Tobacco Industry Regulations Act.

Piloting the Bill, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Leslie Campbell, said the Bill emerges from a decision of Cabinet in 2019 giving approval for the repeal of the Tobacco Industry Regulations Act and the issuing of drafting instructions to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel.

He noted that the decision of Cabinet is aligned to the Government’s public sector Master Rationalisation Plan, which proposes a reduction of the over 190 public bodies, comprising companies, agencies and statutory bodies, as a critical feature of transforming the public sector.

Mr. Campbell said the ongoing effort to streamline and rationalise the public sector is guided by the policy on the categorisation and rationalisation of public bodies which requires a leaner, more efficient and coherent grouping of public bodies.

He added that under the policy, public bodies have been identified for merger, outsourcing and integration into parent ministries, privitisation, divestment and closure.

To this end, he said the Tobacco Industry Control Authority has been identified for closure which can only be accomplished through repeal of the Act which established it as a regulatory body.

“The Bill incorporates validation and indemnity provisions, which were necessary in light of the fact that by a previous decision… dated November 21, 1983, the Cabinet had approved to repeal the Act and the divestment of the assets of the Tobacco Industry Control Authority by way of sale to a consortium comprising of the Cigarette Company of Jamaica Limited and all other cigar manufacturers,” he said.

He noted that, at the time, the Cabinet was advised that the Tobacco Industry Control Authority, when it was operational, was unable to maintain a viable operation and was dependent on budgetary support from the Government of Jamaica.

Mr. Campbell pointed out that by subsequent decision, dated December 2, 1985, the Cabinet gave approval for the redundancy of the employees of the Tobacco Industry Control Authority and the payment of redundancies to such employees from the net proceeds of tobacco stocks, along with the sales of machinery, fixtures and equipment.

“Notwithstanding the decision of Cabinet dated November 21, 1983, and although the operation of the Tobacco Industry Control Authority has ceased, the Act continues to be enforced,” he said.

Opposition Senator, Donna Scott Motley, in supporting the Bill, suggested that the department of legal reform, in addition to revising the laws, need to go through all the legislation and determine which ones should be repealed.

“My only wish is that the Government would move very swiftly to deal with the other institutions so that we can actually have a tidying up of these situations,” she said.
The Bill was passed without amendments.