Date:07/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/07/stories/2009050761112000.htm

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Supreme Court clears display of tobacco pictorial warnings

Special Correspondent

Court records government undertaking that law will be implemented from May 31

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the display of pictorial warnings on all tobacco product packages, to be implemented with effect from May 31, 2009.

A Bench comprising Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice G.S. Singhvi did so after perusing the minutes of the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the subject following allegations that the law was diluted to favour the tobacco industry.

The Bench said there was nothing on record to substantiate the allegations and recorded an undertaking from the Union government that the law would be implemented from May 31.

The Bench on Tuesday asked Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam to place the minutes before it. After perusing them, the Bench rejected the allegations that the minutes were altered after Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss had affixed his signature on March 24 before he resigned on March 26.

The petitioner, Health for Millions, alleged that the government initially brought in the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules in 2006 to make it mandatory for all tobacco products but was dragging its feet on the implementation due to the tobacco lobby’s pressure.

It said initially the GoM decided to have warnings on both sides of cigarette packs but later the minutes were changed to the effect that “the pictorial warning shall be limited to 40 per cent of the principal display area on the front panel of the package only” and a notification was issued on May 3. The Bench disposed of the petition with liberty to the petitioner to challenge the notification.

The pictorial warnings will be positioned parallel to the top edge of the package and in the same direction as the information on the principal display area. This is mandated under Section 7 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.

The packaging and labelling rules of the Act mandate that no messages that directly or indirectly promote a specific tobacco brand or tobacco usage in general can be inscribed on the package, and no product will be sold unless the package contains the specific health warning. The specified health warning will be printed, pasted or affixed. The specified warning will be inscribed in the language used on the pack. In case of more than one language, the warnings shall appear in two languages, one in which the brand name appears and other in any one of the language that appears on the product packs.

For smoking forms of tobacco packages, the specified warnings are depiction of lungs while for chewing and smokeless forms, the warning will be a scorpion.

The rules under the Act were framed in 2006 but amended in 2007 to be implemented from December 1, 2007. However, implementation was postponed to March 31, 2008 and again to November 2008.

India has signed and ratified the World Health Organisation-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which enlists key strategies for reduction in the demand and supply of tobacco products. Article 11 of the WHO-FCTC mandates that all countries that are parties to FCTC should display pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packs.