The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, David Bradbury, today announced that the Government has updated and expanded the graphic health warnings for tobacco products.
"Today the Competition and Consumer (Tobacco) Information Standard 2011 (the Standard) was made. The Standard updates and expands the graphic health warnings that are currently required to be displayed on most tobacco packaging," said Mr Bradbury.
"The Standard will apply to all tobacco products supplied in Australia in retail packaging. All tobacco products are harmful to health. Accordingly, health warnings are being applied to convey a consistent public health message about the risks associated with tobacco use".
"The Standard forms an important part of a comprehensive package of measures that were announced by the Government in April last year to target tobacco use and its harmful effects," Mr Bradbury added.
The updated and expanded health warnings in the Standard are based on consumer research, an evaluation of the current health warnings, and public consultations which took place between September 2011 and December 2011.
The Standard was made under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 with the support of the Legislative and Governance Forum on Consumer Affairs (CAF). CAF is comprised of Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers responsible for consumer affairs and consumer protection laws.
The Standard will commence on 1 January 2012. Transitional arrangements will allow for an orderly transition to the updated health warnings. Between 1 January 2012 and 30 November 2012, tobacco products that are subject to the current health warnings – under the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations 2004 – can either continue to comply with these current requirements or they can comply with the updated requirements under the Standard.
On 1 December 2012, the current health warnings will be replaced with the updated warnings in the Standard. From 1 December 2012, all tobacco products supplied in Australia in retail packaging must display the updated health warnings under the Standard.
The implementation timeframes for the Standard are aligned with the timeframes under the Government's Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011.
23 December 2011