UAE looks at imposing plain packaging

Anti-tobacco proposals have been put forward in the UAE that would impose “plain packaging” on cigarettes and double the price of tobacco products within two years, according to a Gulf News story quoting a health ministry official.

And these are perhaps more than proposals. “The law is expected to be enforced throughout the GCC by 2016,” said Dr. Wedad Al Maidour, head of the ministry’s National Tobacco Control.

Wedad was quoted as saying that it had been proposed that the warning on cigarette packs should be increased to cover 70 percent of the pack, whereas at present it took up half of the pack. It was not clear whether this meant 70/50 percent of the pack or 70/50 percent of one or more sides of the pack.

And Wedad appealed to governments to help raise the price of tobacco products. Cigarettes and tobacco were very cheap in the GCC, she said, where a pack of 20 cost just AED7.

In comparison a pack cost £8 (AED48) in the U.K., where tax on tobacco was regularly increased.