European Parliament opposes cigarette plain packaging amendment
The European Parliament has rejected proposals to introduce plain packaging on cigarettes.
The vote formed part of the Revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, considered on October 8, which included several changes to how tobacco is marketed and sold across the continent.
However, despite the parliament passing through several changes, an amendment to introduce plain packaging on all branded cigarettes was voted down.
If approved, the law would have required cigarette packets to be sold in a plain colour with branding logos and trademarks replaced with the health warning graphics which currently cover a portion of most cigarette packages.
The proposals have attracted criticism from the IP sphere with trademark and brand owners fearing their IP rights would be hindered.
So far, Australia is the only country to introduce the requirement but it is subject to challenges before the World Trade Organization, after complaints from Ukraine, Honduras, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia.
Dan Smith, head of advertising and marketing law at Wragge & Co LLP in London, said brand owners both in and outside the tobacco industry would be “breathing a sigh of relief” after the vote.
Smith told WIPR there had been a “huge amount of concern” that plain packaging could be the “thin end of the wedge,” adding that calls for tighter controls on the marketing of alcohol and high fat, salt and sugar food seemed to be continual.
“People were worried that these products would be the obvious next stop for plain packaging,” Smith said.
“The European Parliament vote is a step away from those concerns becoming a reality, although we will have to wait and see what is in the final directive.”
Proposals the parliament voted in favour of include a requirement for health warnings to cover “no less than 65 percent” of the front and the back of packs.
Tonio Borg, commissioner in charge of health & consumer policy at the European Commission, said at the outset of the proposals that they aimed to make tobacco products and smoking less attractive and to discourage “tobacco initiation” among young people.
"Consumers must not be cheated: tobacco products should look and taste like tobacco products and this proposal ensures that attractive packaging and flavourings are not used as a marketing strategy," Borg said.
Other proposals passed include banning sales of 10-pack and menthol cigarettes by 2016 and 2022 respectively.
