UK: Plain Packs Would Not Increase Tobacco Smuggling

Source from:  OnMedica 05/08/2013

There is "no good evidence" that moving to standardised cigarette packs would encourage more smuggling, a report by MPs and peers has concluded.

One of the arguments tobacco companies put against moving to plain packs is that they could be easily be illicitly copied by counterfeiters.

But the report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health inquiry into the illicit trade in tobacco products, published today, says that existing packaging is already "cheaply and readily" copied and that enforcement agencies do not rely on pack design to test whether packs are illegal but use a number of security features instead. These security features could also be present on standardised packs.

Group chairman, Liberal Democrat MP Stephen William, said: "Contrary to tobacco industry propaganda there is no good reason to think that standardised packs will increase illicit trade."

The government consulted last year on mandatory standardised packs. The results of that consultation, held from April to August, are still being considered.

Last December Australia became the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. There all tobacco company logos and colours are banned from packets which are a uniform colour with anti-smoking messages and photographs. The tobacco company name and brand are allowed in small print at the bottom of the pack. Enditem