Tobacco Documents Online

OlVIAh1' WORKING' GROU: REVI'SED~ STRATEGY PAPER SYNOPSIS: I) Background I!I) Policy aims III) :~reats~~ diffiiculties IV) Strategy V) Next Steps VI) Ap~pirndtix~:~ -~ Key~ People JI1\0PSIS I) Backgraund: As with all GCC countries Oman has a vocal anti-smoking lobby. What makes it of particular concern to M'ETA are the recent attempts to ban cigarette advertising, in, the written media, the ban on, point-of-sale materials and difficulties; - which continue to threaten the indust'ry - over the import of promotional itelns. Oman has: a dioctrinaire approach to many issues, and can be very quick to iinplernent~ a decree with no prior notice. A countervailing trend is its support for an open-market economy and financiaP constraints which cause the government to be wary of jeopardising the ability of the private sector to operate profitably. But at the same time Oman insists - as with its Tourism development -that economic developrnent and the free market economy,, should be fully compatibie with Oman's cultural and religious traditions. 2JOman's anti-tobacco lobby was notably assertive, so that Oman was leading the way on some issues of concern to the industry. In addition, it was desirable to avoid a repeat of the Qatar situation which had deprived META of an opportunity to be pro-actiive.

Smoking only became permissible as part of Oman's development promoted by the Sultan. It was thus regardedl as a~ "necessary evil"' albng with the general influx of expatriates to help wiih this development. This was a characteristic common to all GCC countries - along with the sentiment that Oman would'reflect and/or control those imports it did not need or l61ke. 4) A distynction had' to be drawn between, a) a Ministerial Directive - not absolute and open to discussion in which case the, industryhadtbffind out who was behind it aindi wi'th~ whom to make representation and a Royal Decree - absolute„imrned2ate„ and closed to any further discussion. II) Policy Aims To defend! rnarket! freedoms and preserve the industry's freedom to advertise and sell' a, legitimate product and to recover the right to bring "premiums" and give-aways.. To seek out and improve relations with authorities and opinion-formers to achieve this goal. To establish the industry as a credible interlocutor . To establish a better knowledge of the decision~-rnaking, proeess. III) Threats and Existing Difficulties: The areas of greatestt concern to META incbude the following:. 1) Existiing Difficulties la. Restrictions on the import of all promotional materiall 7

lb. Offiicial' disapproval of'tobacco companies' perceived sales of tobacco andl promotional goods to the under 16s. 1c: Link made by officials oflegitirnate industry with fake goods' companies. 1d. Blbckage of promotional goods at Port (Mina Qaboos), Airport (Seeb), and by road (from UAE). These concern: give-aways in}store promotions such as dispenser units duty,free, goodsredemptiions to the over-18 T-shirt industry ). Recurring Threats 2a. A ban, on Press Advertising and Freedoms. 2b. Ban on point-of-sale materials. 2c. Wider bans on public smoking. IV) Strategy To establish a META Oman sub-committee (Oman Working Group, - OWG) to meet oni an ad hoc basis at the request of any one member. The OWG to consist' of all six META companies with the META Consultant' acting, as Secretary. The foldbtiving Action Plan for such a group isproposed: 11rlETA: Company representatives to win and maintain the credibility and active co-operation of agents and distributors. 2), To improve the environmental monitoring and early warning system throughi company representatives and distriibutors/agents. To keep Oman distinct froQni the UAE as far as the strategy was concerned and not to plan ini terms of the once-discussed! UAE-Oman group. 8'

To fulfill two rolies:. a) the message "writer" - META Secretary and Chair company on instructions from META and with BAT involvement. the message "deliverer" to be someone well-known ini t'he.Oman private sector, which means involving a local distributor. To make distributors aware of the key issues facing,the industry which, al'so irnpact~on their~profitability:~that distiributors~.we~re now~m~~ore~awa~~re~thatw they could not "will" a probllem away; but rather were more open to rece~iivi~ng~ and acting~ on messages~ from~ the~ industry. To provide individual briefing papers via the META secretary and to keep these simple a!nd straight forward; on such, subjects as a) on tobacco: and' youth, b) the danger of advertising bans to the private sector and. c) to hig!hlfight the quality of the industiry's product and economic contribution made by the industry to a country's GDP. 7) To target key officials (the core list of whichi is in Appendix V'I' of the revised OWG strat'egy paper). To use META Carnpany, agents plus the media through MEMAC (to be directly in touch with Ornani' editorial people), as the key resources, with the secretary talking more to and visiting META company representatives. To extend! the Voluntary Code principle to Oman once the UAE1 Code had been, signed - but also to rnake the Oman code external Le. the authorities to know about it' and to be aware of such issues as the industry not ta rgeting,young people (under. 16). This more pro-active campavgtn would form part of the industiy's offering to demonstrate to the authorities their goodiwill; and responsibility in selling a quality product. 10) To allocate a budget for this pro-active campaign. H 0+ cn I

14 Individuat METAcornpan~iesto, devel~optheir own ideas on media and advertising plans, to communicate these to the authorities, to be free to call a press conference at a time of its/their own choosing and to explain their own campaagn, against Trademarks and juvenile smoking. 12) To seek to establish ai local IAA chapter through Mohammed Al Karnali, Managing Director of Al Omaniya Advertising. Next Steps The revised OWG strategy paper would be presented to META as an agenda itle~in~ for~ the~ nex~t~! META~ meeting on March~~ 61 in London. V'I) Appendix These are the key people, including nainisters; and contact nuanbers of particular interest to the proposed OWG: Mr. Maqbool Bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Cornrnerce & Industry. Tel: 799500 Mr. Ahmad Bin Rashid Al-AlaNO,,Director of'Internal Trade at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Te1: 799500 Mr. Saher Tauseer, Director General ef Coirnrnunication, Ministry of C©nunerce & Industry Tel:799500 Mr: Salim Bin Abdullah., Al-Chazalli, Minister of Communications Tel: 701799 DuSr. Rashid A1-Dvlazrui„ Director of Trade at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Tel: 799500 iVSr. Khamis AI-Kiyumi,, Director-General at the Ministry of' Commerce & Industry. Tel: 799500 10

Dr. Alyakvan ADi' Al-Hilal, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Commerce & Indnstry Tel: 799500 Dr. MusallhmaAl-Bualiy„ Directior-Gieneirai1of Preventive Medicinearid Professor of Paediatrics Tel: 600808 Miohamornad Abdul-Qader Al-Ghassani, Assistant Under-Secretary to the Director of Preventative Medicine, Ministry of Public Health Tel: 602337 Ali Bin Mohammad Bin Mousa, Minister of Public Health. Tel: 602177/602337' Abdel-Aziz Bin Moharnrnad Rowas, Minister of Information Tel: 60388g' Mohammad AI-Kamalliy Managing Director of Al-Ornarniya Tel: 600125 RRA 3l'..i.92 11