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Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems
where applicable: Protection of
Human health or Safety; Prevention of deceptive practices and consumer
protection.
Ireland's public health policy objective in relation to tobacco control
is to promote and subsequently move towards a tobacco free society. The
cumulative effect of the tobacco control legislation and public health
policies to date has been a decrease in the number of people smoking. In
2013, the National Tobacco Control Office reported that 21.5% of Irish adults
smoked (22.9% men and 20.2% women). This represents a decline of 2.2% since
2010, and a decline of 7.5% since 2007 when the last comprehensive large
scale study on smoking prevalence in Ireland was undertaken (SLAN
study).
Smoking
is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland. Each year at least 5,200
people die from diseases caused by tobacco use, equating to almost one in
five of all deaths.
Apart
from the human costs due to the tragic deaths and illness attributable to
smoking there is a real economic cost. A very conservative estimate of this
for 2009 is in the region of €664 million. This is composed of €498 million
in health expenditure, €15 million in productivity losses due to absenteeism
and €151 million in productivity losses due to long term incapacity. The
figure of €498 million in 2009 represents 3.52% of health care spending in that
year and 0.31 % of GDP.
To
date Ireland has been to
the forefront of tobacco control legislation in Europe.
The Public Health (Tobacco) Acts 2002 and 2004 aim to protect people from the
dangers of tobacco consumption and from second hand smoke. Under existing
legislation, there is a ban in place on smoking in the workplace, a ban on
tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and a ban on the display of tobacco
products in shops. Regulations concerning health warnings on tobacco products
came into force on the 1st February 2013; from that date all tobacco products
placed on the market must display combined text and graphic warnings.
Regulations controlling sales promotions of tobacco products came into force
on 23rd December 2013, the effect of which is to prohibit certain types of
promotion where tobacco products are offered at a reduced price, or free of
charge for a limited period of time, or on the purchase of another tobacco
product or other products. These measures, as well as others, have succeeded
in reducing the prevalence of smoking in Ireland from 33% in 1998 to 21.5%
in 2013. A further piece of legislation which will prohibit the smoking of
tobacco products in vehicles where children are present is currently going
through the Irish parliament and should be enacted before the end of the
year.
In
order to make further impacts on the smoking prevalence in Ireland, particularly on smoking initiation
among young people, additional initiatives are required in order to build on
the positive effects experienced so far deriving from Ireland’s
tobacco control legislation and public health policies.
Ireland’s policy on smoking is to promote and subsequently move towards a
tobacco free society. Tobacco Free Ireland, the latest policy document in the
area, sets a target for Ireland
to be tobacco free by 2025. In practice this will mean a smoking prevalence
rate of less than 5%. The two key themes underpinning the report are
protecting children and the denormalisation of smoking.
Tobacco
Free Ireland approved by Government and launched in October 2013, addresses a
range of tobacco control issues and initiatives and contains over 60
recommendations, including the introduction of standardised packaging of
tobacco products. It is the first policy document to be published under the
Healthy Ireland – A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013 - 2025,
which was also launched in 2013. The current health status of people in
Ireland,
lifestyle trends and inequalities in health outcomes are leading us towards a
dangerously unhealthy and unaffordable future. Healthy Ireland sets out a vision that will improve
the health and wellbeing of all the population of Ireland over
the next 12 years. It puts forward a "whole of society"
approach and new arrangements to ensure more effective co-operation to
achieve better outcomes for all.
The World Health Organisation
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which Ireland is a
signatory, provides the international context for tobacco control measures.
The guidelines for implementation of Article 11 of the Convention state that "Parties
should consider adopting measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos,
colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than
brand names and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style
(plain packaging). This may increase the noticeability and effectiveness of
health warnings and messages prevent the package from detracting attention
from them and address industry package design techniques that may suggest
that some products are less harmful than others".
The revision of the EU Tobacco
Products Directive was a priority for Ireland during its EU Presidency
in 2013. The European Council has now formally adopted the Directive, and it
has been in force from 20th May 2014. Member States have two years to
transpose the new rules into national law. Areas covered by the revised
Directive include labelling and packaging, ingredients and emissions,
traceability and security features and cross border distance sales of
tobacco. While the revised Directive does not go so far as to introduce
standardised packaging on an EU-wide basis, it provides that it shall not
affect the rights of Member States to introduce further requirements in
relation to standardised packaging.
Standardised
packaging forms the latest strand of a comprehensive range of tobacco control
legislation already in place in Ireland aimed at decreasing
tobacco consumption. Evidence shows that tobacco branding works in three key
ways:
- Packs are designed to be attractive and to communicate the
personality of the brand;
- Lighter coloured packs mislead consumers, falsely suggesting
that some tobacco products are
healthier than others;
- Branding on packs reduces the prominence and effectiveness
of health warnings.
Standardised packaging means
that all forms of branding – trademarks, logos, colours and graphics – would
be removed, except for the brand and variant name, which would be represented
in a uniform typeface for all brands on the market. All packs would be in a
plain neutral colour, except for the mandatory health warnings.
There is
a wealth of evidence to support the introduction of standardised packaging.
Research shows that standardised packaging will:
- Increase the noticeability, recall and impact of health
warning messages;
- Reduce the ability of packaging to mislead consumers to
believe that some products may be less
harmful than others; and
- Reduce the attractiveness of the tobacco product, for both
adults and children.
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