France going plain-pack route

Cigarettes in France are due to be sold in standardized packs following the passage of a law in parliament on Thursday, according to an Agence France Presse story.

The new regulations will be imposed despite objections from the country’s conservative opposition and tobacconists.

In a move that reflects the imposition of a standardized-packs requirement in Australia in December 2012, all cigarettes sold in France will, from May next year, have to be sold in packs of uniform size and color.

Brand names will appear, but in a small, uniform typeface, and packs will be shorn of logos.

Last year, health minister Marisol Touraine estimated that about 13 million people light up in France and that smoking, the leading cause of premature death in France, accounts for about 78,000 deaths annually.