* Ireland to use plain packaging, uniform labelling
* More than 5,000 die a year from smoking related diseases
* Cuba has launched WTO challenge against Australian move
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, May 28 (Reuters) – Ireland is to become the first
country in the European Union to ban branding on cigarette
packages by using plain packaging and uniform labelling, the
government said on Tuesday.
All trademarks, logos, colours and graphics will be removed
from tobacco products sold in Ireland under the new rules, the
Health Ministry said, after the proposal secured backing from
the government.
Smoking was a central part of Ireland’s pub culture until
the country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all
enclosed public places, public transport and workplaces in 2004.
Over 5,000 people still die every year from tobacco related
diseases, the Health Ministry said.
The law will need to be approved in parliament before it can
come into effect, but the governing coalition enjoys a strong
majority.
Under the plan, the brand name will be presented in a
uniform typeface in packs of one plain neutral colour, which has
yet to specified.
The British government is considering banning branding on
cigarette packets, but the proposal was omitted from the
government’s legislative agenda laid out in parliament earlier
this month.
Australia introduced plain olive green packets for
cigarettes and tobacco products last year, prompting anger from
tobacco firms.
Companies such as Philip Morris and British American Tobacco
fear that plain packaging would eat into sales of higher margin
brands and say it would encourage the global black market in
tobacco.
Cuba, whose luxury cigars are world renowned and feature
distinctive packages, has launched a challenge against the
Australian law at the World Trade Organisation.
(Editing by Alison Williams)
