爱尔兰统一香烟包装 禁用品牌标志

爱尔兰政府将推出控烟新举措，所有香烟产品将使用统一标志和朴素包装，凡是在爱尔兰销售的香烟产品，其包装上均不得出现商标和品牌标志。爱尔兰也将由此成为欧盟首个禁止香烟包装上出现品牌标志的国家。因已获得政府支持，该法案在议会通过已无悬念。统一包装后，香烟品牌名字将以统一字体出现。2004年爱尔兰在所有室内公共场所实行禁烟，在此之前，吸烟一直是爱尔兰酒吧文化的重要组成部分，爱尔兰每年有5200人死于跟香烟有关的疾病。英国政府也曾在本月早些时候考虑禁止在香烟包装上出现品牌标志，不过在提交立法讨论时被移除。澳大利亚去年推出统一的橄榄绿香烟包装，引起很多烟草公司的抗议，雪茄生产大国古巴还为此向世界贸易组织提出抗议。

Ireland is to become the first country in the European Union to ban branding on cigarette packages by using plain packaging and uniform labeling.

All trademarks, logos, colors and graphics will be removed from tobacco products sold in Ireland under the new rules, the health ministry said, after the proposal secured backing from the government.

Dr James Reilly, the country’s health minister, said while many arguments will be made against the move, he is confident the legislation will be justified and supported purely by the fact that it will save lives.

“Smoking places an enormous burden of illness and mortality on our society, with over 5,200 people dying every year from tobacco-related diseases,” he said.

“One in two of all smokers will die from their addiction.

“To replace the smokers who quit, the tobacco industry needs to recruit 50 new smokers in Ireland every day just to maintain smoking rates at their current level.”

Dr Reilly also admitted that his father and brother, both doctors, died from smoking-related illness.

“I lost a brother who was a doctor, who understood fully what the cigarettes did, who was so addicted he couldn’t give them up,” he said. “And my father was prematurely blind because of a stroke and spent the last 14 years of his life without being able to see.”

Smoking was a central part of Ireland’s pub culture until the country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, public transport and workplaces in 2004.

The law will need to be approved in parliament before it can come into effect, but the governing coalition enjoys a strong majority.

Under the plan, the brand name will be presented in a uniform typeface in packs of one plain neutral color, which has yet to be specified.

The British Government is considering banning branding on cigarette packets, but the proposal was omitted from the Government’s legislative agenda laid out in parliament earlier this month.

Australia introduced plain olive green packets for cigarettes and tobacco products last year, prompting anger from tobacco firms.

Cuba, whose luxury cigars are world renowned and feature distinctive packages, has launched a challenge against the Australian law at the World Trade Organization.