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- Smoker: The following could change for you
- Tobacco in advertising
- Changes for smokers
Smoker: The following could change for you
A new guideline should ensure that especially young people do not even start to smoke. To make the tobacco products uninteresting for young people, there will also be changes to the cigarette box.
Until May 2016, the new guideline should stand for Germany. So far, the new Tobacco Product Directive has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will now be transposed into national law. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is working intensively on the guideline for Germany. For the first time smokers of electronic cigarettes will not be exempt from the law!
In particular, the cigarette manufacturers fear the plain packaging, the "Plain Packaging", as it is already in Ireland and the UK law. So cigarette packs without logo or colors that make the brands recognizable at first glance.
These regulations include the Tobacco Product Directive (excerpts):
- The warnings on the tobacco products consist of a combination of image and text and should cover 65% of the front and back of the pack.
- Additives in tobacco products are regulated uniformly throughout the EU.
- Cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco are banned if they have a characteristic flavor or if the filter, paper and capsules contain nicotine.
- Or if they have flavorings in their constituents or have other characteristics that change their smell or taste.
- Tobacco products containing certain additives are banned.
- The presentation and the contents of the pack are given. So a box must be cuboid and contain at least 20 cigarettes.
Tobacco in advertising
Tobacco advertising has already been banned in printed publications in Germany for several years, and cigarettes, television and the Internet are not allowed to be advertised. This will not change after the entry into force of the new directive next year. And cigarette companies can not continue to sponsor events to publicize their brand.
Changes for smokers
If the new directive is adopted and comes into force, it certainly will not change much for the confident smoker. Smokers already know that smoking is unhealthy and can make them ill, so shocking pictures that cover more than half of the pack will not change much.
Still, I think the new directive makes sense, because it could actually make fewer young people start smoking. If there are no more small packs, the threshold for adolescents is greater to spend their pocket money on a large, more expensive pack.
Getting into the smoking career will be less attractive as the packs will not look very nice when the shocks are printed on the pack. A longtime smoker may not care, but maybe it scares off one or the other young people to start smoking.
The Federal Government has meanwhile decided that the unitary box will NOT exist with us. The other points are still being voted on. You can find out about the current status via the website of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
(WW3)
