New cigarette packet regulations coming

The UAE Ministry of Health is likely to introduce new anti-tobacco regulations with a view to discourage people from smoking.

The third clause of the federal Tobacco Control Law No.25 of 2009 relates to the statutory warnings on cigarette packets.

The new regulations are likely to make it mandatory to cover half of the surface area of the cigarette packet with health risk warnings including pictures of a snake, a pregnant woman and a diseased hand holding a burning cigarette.

Tobacco companies are likely to be given a three-month deadline to exhaust their old stock of cigarettes and introduce packets with the new health warnings and images.

These regulations are likely to be adopted by other GCC states which will not allow import of tobacco products without the new health warning images after three months.

According to Abu Dhabi health statistics for 2011, 24 per cent UAE national men and 29 per cent of expatriate males smoked. In the case of women, only 0.08 per cent of nationals smoked against 6.6 per cent for expatriates.

 

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