October 8th, 2011:

http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/plainpack-non-cig-tob-products

In April 2010 the Australian Government announced that, in a world first, all tobacco products sold in Australia would be required to be sold in plain packaging by 1 July 2012.

The Government’s legislative proposal on plain packaging aims to prevent tobacco advertising and/or promotion on tobacco product packaging in order to:

§  reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products to consumers, particularly young people;

§  increase the noticeability and effectiveness of mandated health warnings;

§  reduce the ability of the tobacco product packaging to mislead consumers about the harms of smoking; and

§  through the achievement of these objectives in the long term, as part of a comprehensive suite of tobacco control measures, contribute to efforts to reduce smoking rates.

First consultation process

To enable full stakeholder and community engagement in the process, the exposure draft of the Bill and the Consultation Paper were released for public comment from 7 April 2011 to 6 June 2011. The Consultation Paper outlined the Government’s approach to implementing plain packaging, its response to design testing and targeted consultations, and provided an explanation of the key provisions of the exposure draft Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011.

Consultation Paper and the submissions received for first consultation process

Legislation

On 6 July 2011, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing introduced the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 and associated Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011 into Parliament. The bills passed the House of Representatives on 24 August 2011 and are currently before the Senate. The bills and supporting documents are available at :

§  Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011:

§  Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011:

Second consultation process

The first Consultation Paper on the Government’s proposal for plain packaging of tobacco products noted that the Government would conduct a further consultation on the detail of the proposed design features for the plain packaging of non-cigarette tobacco products in the second half of 2011.

A second Consultation Paper is now being released for public comment. This consultation paper outlines the Government’s proposed approach to implementing plain packaging for non-cigarette tobacco products.

Following the completion of this consultation process, the regulations for non cigarette tobacco products will be finalised before the commencement of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 on 1 January 2012.