Implementation Of Amendments To The Tobacco (Control Of Advertisments And Sale) Act

Singapore, 23 February 2012: During the 2010 amendments to the Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act, it was announced that Singapore will be extending health warning labelling to the outside packaging of tobacco products, and prohibiting misleading labelling on tobacco products, such as 'mild', 'lights' or 'low tar'. The Act was also renamed the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act.

2. With effect from 1 March 2013, the Health Promotion Board (HPB), in partnership with the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), will implement the following amendments to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act and introduce the following tobacco control measures (please refer to Annex A for more details):

• banning misleading descriptors on tobacco packaging

• implementing a new set of graphic health warnings and extension of graphic health warning labels to the outer packaging (i.e. carton packaging)

• lowering the maximum tar and nicotine limits as well as replacing the requirement to print tar and nicotine yield levels with a new health information requirement

• requiring cigarillos to be sold in packs of 20 instead of the current 10

3. A briefing session was held this morning to communicate the amendments to the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry has been given until 1 March 2013 to implement these changes.

4. Mr Ang Hak Seng, Chief Executive Officer, HPB, explained: "Singapore is a signatory of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). One of the obligations of being a signatory is the requirement to ensure that tobacco product packaging does not promote a tobacco product in a misleading manner. Thus far, 73 other Parties have banned misleading descriptors, including the European Union, Australia, Canada and Brazil. The reality is that smoking kills, regardless of what type of cigarette it is. There is no evidence that 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes are any less harmful. Yet many smokers, who want to quit the habit but found it challenging, tend to switch to cigarettes with these descriptors, because they think these cigarettes are less harmful

5. In 2009, HPB conducted a study with more than a thousand respondents aged 18 to 69, to assess the impact such descriptors have on consumer perception. Among both smokers and non-smokers surveyed, a significantly higher proportion of respondents believed that cigarettes labelled 'light', 'mild', 'low tar' and 'ultra light' delivered less nicotine, were less harmful to health and made it easier to quit smoking, compared to those respondents who indicated there was no difference between these and 'regular' cigarettes. For example, 63% of smokers believed that 'light' cigarettes were less harmful than 'regular' cigarettes compared to 28% of smokers who indicated no difference between the two, and almost twice as many smokers believed that 'mild' cigarettes were less harmful compared to those who indicated no difference between the two. Similar perceptions were observed when the misleading descriptors were part of the brand name. It is, therefore, imperative that Singapore bans such misleading descriptors. The ban on misleading labelling will affect about a quarter of the cigarette brands currently sold in Singapore.

6. Singapore first implemented a new set of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs in August 2004. These graphic warnings are regularly rotated to maintain the effectiveness of the images. The last change was in 2006. International research has shown that the effectiveness of health warnings increases with their size. Given that outer packaging, such as the carton, is also on display at the point of sale, extending the graphic health warnings to larger packaging will enhance the effect of the graphic health warnings. Such a move is also aligned with the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which Singapore is party to

7. In addition, a new health information requirement will replace the current requirement to print tar and nicotine yield levels. The health information will further inform smokers of chemicals, other than tar and nicotine, in a cigarette. It is important to note that lowering the tar and nicotine limits does not improve the safety of cigarettes as no level of toxicity and addictiveness can be deemed to be safe in cigarettes. However, the limits provide a ceiling which prevents tobacco manufacturers from including excessive levels of nicotine and tar

8. Singapore is constantly pushing tobacco control measures forward, and is preparing to host for the first time the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) from 20 to 24 March 2012. HPB will organise both the pre-conference and conference, as well as lead the dialogue on tobacco control, for some 2,500 international delegates from around the world. The conference theme, Towards a Tobacco-Free World: Planning Globally, Acting Locally, underscores the emphasis placed on WCTOH as a platform not only for global strategies, but also for plans that acknowledge regional and local realities in the fight against tobacco.

9. If you require more information on implementing the amendments, you may write in to hpb_mailbox@hpb.gov.sg and HSA_info@hsa.gov.sg