It can mislead consumers about the health effects of tobacco products; and distract from health warnings on the packs.
Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products is therefore an important element of any comprehensive tobacco control strategy, in combination with other policies such as prohibitions on tobacco advertising and promotion and large graphic health warnings. There is clear evidence that plain packaging works as an effective demand reduction measure.
This Toolkit is intended to provide governments and civil society organizations with the tools needed to ensure robust plain packaging policies and legislation that can stand up to Big Tobacco’s efforts to dilute, delay and defeat the measure.
The Toolkit sets also out important technical details needed in the development of the policy and in the drafting of the legislation.
PART 1 contains a series of BRIEF GUIDES that provide an outline of the steps a government should consider including in its development and drafting of legislation. These guides provide a step by step approach highlighting key issues and decisions that need to be considered; and signpost the detailed evidence and resources contained in the Reference Materials or elsewhere.
PART 2 contains more detailed REFERENCE MATERIALS. These set out all the available evidence supporting the policy as well as the opposing arguments and their flaws; there is a detailed guide on how to approach drafting the law, with examples from existing legislation and a DRAFT MODEL BILL that sets out the recommended elements for plain packaging legislation.
PART 2 also includes templates for a regulatory impact assessment and a template consultation document for plain packaging, if government officials decide to undertake these recommended procedures. There are also policy briefing papers to assist with media messaging and coordination with other government departments.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced guidance on the evidence, design and implementation of Plain Packaging of tobacco products. Government Ministries of Health should refer to the WHO guidance when considering plain packaging.
www.who.int/tobacco/publications/industry/plain-packaging-tobacco-products/en
This Toolkit was developed by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids to complement the WHO guidance, to provide practical assistance on policy development processes, to provide greater detail on the evidence and opposing arguments, and to assist with drafting legislation.