Up to 50% of cigarette packets must display health warnings - CARICOM

Up to 50% of cigarette packets must display health warnings – CARICOM

Dec 14, 2012 News

Cigarette manufacturers in the region will soon be forced to print health warnings covering almost half of its display area, CARICOM announced Wednesday.

New CARICOM regulations will mandate cigarette packages sold in the region to have health warnings covering up to 50% of the display area.

The CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the trade arm of the 15-member Caribbean regional body which met for two days in Guyana this week, at its Thirty-Fifth Meeting, made an historic decision by adopting the Regional Standard for the Labeling of Retail Packages of Tobacco Products as presented by the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ).
All member states present at the meeting voted in favour of the new measures, CARICOM said.
“CARICOM member states have now taken a major step in meeting a significant obligation under Article 11 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which most member states are signatories and which entered into force in February 2005.”
According to Article 11, countries which are a party to the Convention, within a period of three years after entry into force, have to adopt and implement effective measures to ensure tobacco packages are labeled according to guidelines developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) FCTC Secretariat.
“The Convention calls for parties to, among other requirements, implement rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that covers at least 30 per cent – ideally 50 per cent – of the display areas, which may include pictures or pictograms,” CARICOM said in its statement.
“In adopting the Regional Standard on Tobacco Labeling, CARICOM countries would have met this important obligation. In so doing, CARICOM Member States have also met the related obligation under the Port-of-Spain Declaration (2007) on Non–Communicable Diseases.”
CARICOM said that all manufacturers, importers, retailers and other entities engaged in the production and or trade of tobacco products within any member state of CARICOM need to comply with the regional standards.