Brexit: UK May Change to Australian Tobacco Warnings

Since the the European Commission owns the copyright to current health warnings used on cigarette packs in the UK, in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit, the UK has arranged to use Australia’s warnings.

Diane Caruana

October 18, 2018

UK regulations have forced manufacturers to sell cigarette packets carrying health warnings as of 2009. However, the EU owns the copyright to current warnings, therefore the UK has made a deal with Australia to use its graphics in the event of a “no deal” Brexit.

“Manufacturers will need to ensure that tobacco products produced from exit day onwards feature new picture warnings, which have been secured by agreement with the Australian government,” said the UK’s Health Ministry. “Tobacco products featuring pictures from the EU library, produced before exit day, may be sold for 12 months after exit day.”

Brexit would bring the opportunity of dropping the TPD

Anti-smoking experts have pointed out that the TPD has brought a stall in progress in relation to smoking cessation, rather than progress.

On a different note, something positive that could come out of Brexit, would be the ability to drop the EU’s rigid Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Earlier this year, anti-smoking experts explained why a post-Brexit Britain should consider getting rid of the ineffective EU-wide e-cigarette regulations, which have led to a stall in progress in relation to smoking cessation, rather than progress.

These experts grew concerned when they observed a drop in the number of people switching from smoking to vaping, following the TPD implementation. Despite the fact that Public Health England has openly endorsed the safer alternatives as smoking cessation tools, the number of smokers switching per year has dropped from 800,000 to 100,000.

Read Further: BBC