Advancing Plain and Standardized Tobacco Packaging

Tobacco packs can be colorful, attractive, and come in exciting shapes and sizes. Plain and standardized packaging removes the potential for companies to use these attractive elements by only allowing the tobacco pack to be presented in one color, shape, and size that is designed to be minimally attractive. This policy stipulates that packs may contain no brand imagery, and also that the brand name be written in a specific font, color, and size. Australia was the first country to introduce plain and standardized packaging for cigarettes in 2011, with the law taking effect in 2012. As of January 2020, France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland, and Saudi Arabia have fully implemented plain and standardized packaging laws at the retail level. Thailand, Uruguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Singapore, Belgium, and Hungary have all passed or adopted plain and standardized packaging laws and are awaiting full implementation. Many additional countries are either debating or considering similar policies.

This Report and One-pager contains recommendations and steps that can be taken to advance plain and standardized packaging in your country. The report is also now available in Portuguese and Spanish.