Graphic warnings on tobacco products soon

QATAR will impose stronger warnings on all tobacco products soon.

According to sources, all GCC countries will follow the practice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that they signed earlier this year.

“Qatar is working closely with the other GCC countries to work out the details, including customs, tax and labeling and might be able to implement the convention in early 2009,” sources said.

Bahrain announced on Tuesday that tobacco firms would be forced to print pictures of damaged organs, such as lungs and hearts, on cigarette packs in order to get entry into the GCC market.

They would also have to make sure that 50 to 30% of a pack bear a larger warning statement on smoking hazards.

FCTC is the first-ever international public health measure and imposes restrictions on where people can smoke, and how tobacco products can be advertised.

The core demand in the WHO FCTC, an evidence-based treaty, is price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, and non-price measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, namely: protection from exposure to tobacco smoke; regulation of the contents of tobacco products; regulation of tobacco product disclosures; packaging and labelling of tobacco products; education, communication, training and public awareness; tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation.

The convention came into force on February 27, 2005.

An official of a major tobacco distribution company in Qatar claimed that “certain things needed to be worked out before the public will actually get the new-look packs”.

“I think these countries are currently deciding what kind of pictures should be used and the right size of the font. But so far, we haven’t received anything in writing,” he said.

“Of course, once implemented, we’d gladly go ahead with the new regulations in place,” he said.

According to him, most of the tobacco products coming into Qatar are being shipped out of Europe and that’s where the manufacturers will have to adjust to the proposed labeling.

Qatar’s own Tobacco Law (20) of 2002 set out extensive guidelines and parameters for tobacco usage, advertising and penalties for violations, after which the anti-smoking lobby in the country gathered pace.

Article six of the law points out that “the letter size of the warning statement on each pack should not be less than quarter of the brand’s printed name. Also the warning should be in the same colour as the trademark’s logo. The warning must also be in Arabic, along with date of expiry, production and quantity of tar and nicotine”.

The country strictly prohibits the advertisement of tobacco, tobacco products and derivatives in Article eight, while Article 10 of the law bans smoking in almost all public places.