Ireland is to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products from this September, following the signing of a commencement order by the Minister of State at the Irish Department of Health, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy.
The signing of the order means that all tobacco products manufactured for sale in Ireland from 30 September 2017 must be in standardised retail packaging, bearing 'no trademarks, logos, colours and graphics'.
The government has said that there will be a 'wash-through' period of one year, meaning that products manufactured and placed on the market up until that date will be permitted to remain on the market until September 2018.
“The tobacco pack is the last advertising medium for the tobacco industry in Ireland, and so is a critically important form of promotion," commented Minister Corcoran Kennedy. "Standardised packaging is the next step in tackling the promotion and advertising of tobacco."
Commenting on the move, a spokesperson for JTI Ireland, which produces Ireland's biggest-selling tobacco brand, Silk Cut, said, “Manufacturers, distributors and retailers are currently phasing in separate new EU tobacco regulations ahead of a deadline of May 2017, so clarity on plain packaging is essential, to allow us to begin preparations to comply with the branding ban in the time frames set down by the government.”
Elsewhere, Dr Patrick Dooley, the chairman of anti-smoking lobby group ASH Ireland, welcomed the move, saying, “Even though the hard deadline for the removal of branded packs from the market is September 2018, we have seen in Australia and Britain that the tobacco industry doesn’t actually need the 12-month wash-out period to introduce plain packaging. Perhaps it will be introduced in Ireland before the 12 months are up."
Ireland follows Australia, the UK and France in introducing plain-packaging legislation for tobacco products.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
