Plain Packaging of Tobacco Legislation Introduced

On the 11th February 2014 the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill passed its first reading. The Bill seeks to amend the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 by regulating the branding of tobacco and herbal smoking product packaging in New Zealand, thereby removing the last major promotional mechanism of the tobacco industry. In particular, the Bill seeks to:

• prohibit the use of tobacco company branding imagery and other marketing devices on tobacco product packaging, or on the tobacco products themselves;
• tightly controlling how a tobacco brand or company name is represented on tobacco product packaging;
• standardising all other design elements of tobacco product packaging, including the materials, colours, size and the fonts that may be used;
• increase the prominence, pertinency, and size of health warnings on tobacco product packaging;
• controlling the design and appearance of individual cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The specifics parameters of the controlled packaging elements will be given in the regulations, but it can be expected to closely match the Australian legislation.

The Bill also seeks to amend the Designs Act 1953 by allowing the Commissioner to register designs even if their use is restricted or prohibited under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990. This will bring the Designs Act into line with the similar provision given by section 17(3) of the Trade Marks Act 2002.