Indonesia: Only 13.44% Cigarette Brands Bear Warnings

Source from:  The Jakarta Post 07/03/2014

The Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) says only 13.44 percent of cigarette packages circulating in the market bear pictorial warnings, which became mandatory as from June 24.

"We have sent a warning letter to cigarette companies that have not yet included the pictorial health warning on their products and asked them to immediately include it on the packaging," said BPOM chairman Roy Sparringa on Thursday as quoted by Antara news agency.

The BPOM and regional food and drug offices (BBPOM) in 31 regions conducted two days of monitoring of the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) No.109/2012 on tobacco control, which took effect on Tuesday.

Of the 2,270 cigarette packages monitored, only 305 or 13.44 percent had pictorial warnings.

There are 3,363 cigarette brands produced by 672 companies registered with the Customs and Excise Directorate.

"The BPOM has a mandate to give both verbal and written warnings, to withdraw products from the market, to temporary stop production activities and to issue recommendations for other action," said Roy.

The regulation also stipulates requirements for manufacturers to report the inclusion of health warnings and information on tobacco product packages to the authorities, along with samples of the packages. They also must report results of laboratory tests on nicotine and tar levels on their products. Enditem