1 Year for Big Tobacco to Get Plain Packs Into Gear
Tobacco companies have a full year to transition to plain packaging, with regulations setting out the specific requirements for the retail packaging and appearance of cigarettes under the Australian Government's world-leading plain packaging legislation released today.
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1 December 2011
Big Tobacco will have a full year to transition to plain packaging with Regulations setting out the specific requirements for the retail packaging and appearance of cigarettes under the Gillard Government's world leading plain packaging legislation, released today.
Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon said the release of the Regulations provides the cigarette industry with all the information they need to implement plain packaging, exactly 12 months ahead of the full implementation date of 1 December 2012.
“The Regulations specify the detailed requirements for the physical features of cigarette packs and cartons such as the required colour, font size and permitted markings such as brand and variant details,” Minister Roxon said.
“We know that packaging remains one of the last powerful marketing tools for tobacco companies to recruit new smokers to their deadly products, but now cigarette packets will only serve as a stark reminder of the devastating health effects of smoking.
“The Government consulted broadly on the plain packaging measure, including the specifications in these Regulations.”
An initial draft of the Regulations was tabled in the House of Representatives on 6 July 2011, enabling public comment. The Department of Health and Ageing addressed a number of the issues raised by the cigarette manufacturers in an updated draft of the Regulations tabled in the House of Representatives on 22 September 2011.
The Government is currently finalising the specifications for plain packaging of non-cigarette tobacco products and proposes to incorporate these into the Regulations in early 2012.
The Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 and the Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Act 2011 received Royal Assent today.
For more information, please contact the Minister’s Office on 02 6277 7220
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