Getting into a bit of a flap over RYO pouch warnings

The European Commission’s draft proposals for the positioning of health warnings on roll-your-own tobacco pouches is being circulated as a notification by the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade.

Article 9 of the EU’s new Tobacco Products Directive, which has to be transposed into national legislation by May 20, 2016, requires that general warnings (smoking kills or smoking kills – quit now) and information messages (tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer) cover 50 percent of the surfaces on which they are placed.

But the exact positioning of these warnings is not set out in the directive; so the draft decision lays down rules for the positioning of the warnings on the three main forms of RYO pouches: wraparound pouches, flat bottomed pouches and standing pouches.

For wraparound pouches and flat bottomed pouches, the general warning and information message should be positioned on the two surfaces which become visible when the packages are fully opened.

So as to allow the industry to adapt its packages to the requirements of this decision, a grace period of two years is being granted to manufacturers of wraparound pouches in laminate material. This will mean that they may, until May 2018, put the information message on the surface that becomes visible when the package is partly opened and the general warning on the bottom surface that becomes visible when the package is fully opened.

For standing pouches, the warnings should be placed on the surfaces at the bottom of the pouch.