Centre extends deadline of ‘new health warnings carried on cigarette packs’ till August 31, 2018
New Delhi, March 28: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) have extended the health warning carried on cigarette packs until August 31, 2018. More than one in 10 deaths globally was caused due to smoking in 2015 and over 50% of them took place in just four countries, one of which was India stated Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study published in medical journal The Lancet.
As per the rules laid down under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), during the rotation period of 24 months, two images of specified health warnings, as notified in the Schedule, shall be displayed on all tobacco product packages and each of the images shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of 12 months, the notification issued earlier read.
“If the specified health warnings provided are not amended by the Central Government with new specified health warnings at the end of the rotation period for the next rotation period, then the existing specified health warnings for the second twelve months shall continue for a further period till the 31st day of August, 2018,” according to an amendment in the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008, brought in by the ministry on Tuesday.
