烟草在线据The Grocer报道编译　　雪茄制造商们担心，如果政府继续进行烟草包装的平装计划，他们将被迫与卷烟和手卷烟遵循相同的法规。

　　到目前为止，雪茄还没有被列入正在进行的政府协商，业内人士认为它们应该能继续被特殊对待，因为如前关于平装的讨论重点是阻止年轻人吸烟。雪茄和斗烟的消费者皆为成年人，且斗烟也没有包括在讨论范围内。

　　然而，供应商对The Grocer表示，他们估计强大的反烟游说组织会发出呼吁，要求将雪茄包括到立法中。

　　斯堪的纳维亚烟草集团英国公司市场部主管艾伦·格雷厄姆（Alan Graham）向The Grocer表示，制造商会欢迎愿意支持将雪茄排除立法之外的零售商，但他担心健康游说组织会极力反对。

　　“你能看到，在烟草展示禁令的最后一轮磋商中，有2500人反对禁令，还有43000名来自反烟游说组织的人士表示支持，”他说。

　　平装法案对于雪茄制造商来说，需要面对的最主要问题是其知识产权被侵犯，而不是有出现假冒产品的风险，这情况与卷烟市场相反，格雷厄姆补充道。假冒雪茄和伪造包括罐装在内的雪茄包装，并没有多大的市场，因为仿制是极其困难和昂贵的。

　　上个月开始的磋商，将持续到7月10日。

UK: Cigar Makers Seek to Avoid Plain Packaging Legislation

　　Cigar makers fear they will be forced to follow the same regulations as cigarettes and rolling tobacco if the government goes ahead with plans for plain packaging.

　　So far, cigars have not been included in the ongoing government consultation, and the industry believes they should continue to be treated differently as the curent debate around plain packs is focused on stopping young people taking up smoking. Cigars and pipe tobacco, which is also not included in the consultation, are mainly bought be older customers.

　　However, suppliers told The Grocer they expected a significant number of calls from within the powerful anti-tobacco lobby to have cigars included in legislation.

　　Manufacturers would welcome the support of retailers willing to argue for cigars not to be included, Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK marketing head Alan Graham told The Grocer, but he feared the health lobby would shout louder.

　　"When you look at the last consultation on the display ban there were about 2,500 responses against the ban and 43,000 from the anti-tobacco lobby," he said.

　　The main concern for cigar makers around plain packaging would be intellectual property rights rather than the risk of counterfeiting, which is a bigger problem in the cigarette market, Graham added. There is less of a market for counterfeit cigars and the packs, which often include tins, would be difficult and expensive to replicate.

　　The consultation, launched last month, will run until 10 July.