The future of cigarette packaging?
An international report shows there is tremendous momentum worldwide for tobacco plain packaging. There are now 38 countries and territories moving forward with plain packaging: 21 adopted the measure, 3 have it in place, and 14 working on it. Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report, documents global progress on plain packaging, ranks 206 countries and territories on the size of their health warnings on cigarette packages, and lists the 134 countries and territories that now require graphic picture warnings.
Plain packaging accelerating globally
"There is a strong, unstoppable global trend for countries to implement plain packaging," said a spokesperson from the international report. "Australia was the first country to implement plain packaging in 2012 and now the pace of implementation is accelerating.
There are now 21 countries and territories adopting plain packaging, up from only 9 in 2018.
Plain packaging includes health warnings on packages and prohibits tobacco company branding such as colors, logos and design elements. It also requires the brand name to be a standard font size, style, and location on the package and the brand portion of each package to be the same color such as an unattractive brown. Finally, the package format is standardized. Plain packaging regulations put an end to packaging being used for product promotion, increase the effectiveness of package warnings, curb package deception and decrease tobacco use.
Plain packaging has been implemented in Australia (2012), France (2016), United Kingdom (2016), Norway (2017), Ireland (2017), New Zealand (2018), Saudi Arabia (2019), Turkey (2019), Thailand (2019), Canada (2019), Uruguay (2019), Slovenia (2020), Belgium (2020), Israel (2020), Singapore (2020), Netherlands (2020), Denmark (2021), and Guernsey (2021), and will be implemented in Hungary (2022), Jersey (2022), and Myanmar (2022). Plain packaging is implemented in practice in three countries where packages are imported from a country with plain packaging: Monaco (from France), Cook Islands (from New Zealand), and Niue (from Australia). Plain packaging is under formal consideration in at least 14 countries: Armenia, Chile, Rica, Finland, Georgia, Iran, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, South Korea, South Africa, Spain, and Sri Lanka.
Graphic picture warnings continue to increase
The report found that 134 countries and territories now require picture health warnings on cigarette packages, an increase from 117 in 2018. This represents 70% of the world's population. Canada was the first country to require picture health warnings in 2001.
In total 122 countries and territories require warnings to cover at least 50% of the package front and back (on average), up from 107 in 2018 and 24 in 2008. There are now 71 countries and territories with a size of at least 65% (on average) of the package front and back, and 10 with at least 85%. The top countries ranked by warning size as an average of the front and back of the package are: 92.5% East Timor (Timor-Leste), Turkey (85% of front, 100% of back);90% Maldives, Nepal, Vanuatu, Benin (2022) (90%, 90%);87.5% New Zealand (75%, 100%);85% Hong Kong, India, and Thailand (85%, 85%)
Guidelines under FCTC recommend that warnings should: be as large as is achievable; include a rotated series of graphic pictures; and be at the top of both the front and back of packages.