http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/02/24/govt-plans-to-introduce-plain-packaging-for-tobacco/
PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry plans to introduce generic packaging for tobacco products with the aim of reducing brand recognition and ultimately reducing overall consumption, Malay Mail Online reported today.
According to the report, the Health Ministry’s director for the disease control division Dr Chong Chee Keong, said plain packaging would greatly impact the prevalence of smoking among new and light smokers.
Chong said there were plans to introduce the plain packaging using standardised colours and fonts in stages but that no specific date had been set as yet.
When asked if the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) would affect the plan, Chong said the treaty had yet to be tested.
In 2012, Australia became the first nation to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes, in a bid to reduce smoking rates among its citizens.
Other nations that adopted the move later were France and Britain, much to the unhappiness of big tobacco firms including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International.
These firms have since launched legal challenges against such laws, arguing the move had impinged on their trademark intellectual property.
In Australia, four tobacco firms including Philip Morris lost their legal challenges against the law.