Finance committee  Sir, I'll respond to that question. What is being proposed here is a new regime for the stamping of tobacco products. I'm not a smoker, but if you look at a tobacco package, there is a ribbon that goes around it and some words that are required to say “Canada duty paid”. These are intended to provide a sign that these are legitimate products and that all taxes have been paid.

Finance committee  It's a regulatory regime right now, and that regulatory regime just specifies the colour of that ribbon and the wording. What we're producing now and what we're proposing are new specific controls, and those controls will entail that the stamp itself will be under the control of the Minister of National Revenue.

Finance committee  The intent is that this particular stamp will be applied to all tobacco products over time. The primary target initially is the cigarette package itself. The intent is to have this stamp apply to all manufactured products--roll your own, the tobacco sticks, all those products.

Finance committee  There is a specific transitional rule in these provisions. The intent is that once this legislation is passed there is a bit of a delay. That provides time for new regulations because there are complementary regulations that will be needed for this particular new regime. That provides some time for the CRA to announce those, to distribute, and to get those regulations passed.