Recent Developments
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (“Ministry”) introduced the Regulation on Principles and Procedures Regarding the Method of Production, Labelling and Inspection of Tobacco Products (“Regulation”), which entered into force by publication in the Official Gazette on March 1, 2019. The Regulation sets out rules regarding the method of production and plain packaging of tobacco products.
What’s New?
Pursuant to the Regulation, the emission levels of tobacco products placed on the market must meet the values determined by the Ministry. In addition, manufacturers must submit the relevant information contemplated under the Regulation, such as the emission levels and ingredients used in the tobacco products to the Ministry on an annual basis.
The Regulation requires the tobacco products to have plain, standardized labels and packages. In addition, it is mandatory for the product packages to bear standard health warnings as well as images indicating the dangers of smoking, which cannot be smaller than 85% of both the front and back of the package. The Ministry will provide the standard health warnings electronically and publish them on its website.
Furthermore, any text, writing, logo, image or figure relating to the tobacco product’s brand cannot be displayed on the parcels or outer and inner packages of the tobacco products, except as provided under the Regulation. Accordingly, the brands must be indicated on the front side of the package in the font and size as specified in the Regulation and cannot be larger than 5% of the package size.
Tobacco products manufactured before December 31, 2018 can be placed on the market until July 5, 2019. In this respect, manufacturers must apply to the Ministry to update their certificate of conformity by July 5, 2019.
The full text of the Regulation is available here (in Turkish).
Conclusion
The Ministry continues to take actions to prevent the harmful effects caused by the consumption of tobacco products. In this regard, manufacturers must carefully review the requirements under the Regulation regarding the packaging and labelling of tobacco products and ensure their products comply with these requirements.
