SRI LANKA
The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved a proposal submitted by Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, minister of health, to introduce plain packaging on tobacco products.
This move is to follow the WHO-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the international tobacco control treaty, for which Sri Lanka is a party.
The government expects to reduce tobacco usage up to 15% in the next four years. In this respect, as one of the strategies adopted for discouraging of smoking, a proposal has been made to introduce ‘standardized packaging’ to minimize the attractiveness of packaging of all tobacco products.
In this, only two colors or black and white can be used for tobacco products packaging and anything other than the information specified or mandated by the government such as trade name, product name, quantity of the product, and health warning or any symbol will not be permitted to be exhibited on the packaging.