Tobacco use is the single greatest preventable cause of cancer in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco kills nearly 6 million people a year, including more than 600,000 non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Tobacco use costs the world economy USD1.4 trillion a year. Around 80% of the world’s 1 billion smokers live in low- and middle- income countries.
The framework for global tobacco control is set by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. Implementation of this treaty is specifically included in the Sustainable Development Goals The Guidelines for Implementation of Article 11 (Packaging and labelling of tobacco products) of the FTCT define plain packaging as “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style (plain packaging)”.
Australia was the first country in the world to introduce tobacco plain packaging, with the enactment of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act on 12 December 2011. Following a decision in April 2012 by the New Zealand Government to agree in principle to introduce a plain packaging regime in the country in alignment with Australia, and a public consultation process, New Zealand has brought in legislation to introduce tobacco standardized plain packaging as part of its comprehensive tobacco control programme.
New Zealand now has the strongest standardised/plain packaging legislation in the world.
Specifically:
- Brand names can only take up one line and can be no longer than 50mm in length (size 14 font, so this limits the number of characters for a brand name)
- Likewise variant names can only be one line and no longer than 35mm (size 10 font the same as Australia)
- Cigarettes sticks can be no less than 7mm and no greater than 9mm in diameter. They can be no longer than 95mm
- Cigarette packs can only contain 20 or 25 cigarettes
- RYO tobacco can only be sold in packs of 30g or 50g
- The foil lining must be fixed inside the pack (to stop the pull out foil packs we saw here in Australia)
- Cigarettes must be cylindrical with flat ends so innovations such as recessed filters are not allowed.
For more information on:
Plain packaging of tobacco products go to here: http://www.who.int/campaigns/no-tobacco-day/2016/faq-plain-packaging/en/
New Zealand’s Smoke-free Environments Regulations 2017 including detailed information on plain packaging can be accessed here: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2017/0123/latest/whole.html#DLM7282741
Australia’s evaluation of plain packaging and information to counter tobacco industry arguments on plain packaging please visit the Plain Facts website at /resources/plain-packaging-tobacco-products-facts