Japan Tobacco Inc. has said it intends to launch nationwide in late March 15 further limited-edition packs of its Mevius cigarette brand.
Soft packs, boxes, and 100s boxes of Mevius, Mevius Lights, Mevius Super Lights, Mevius Extra Lights, and Mevius One will be available in selected retail stores in a limited quantity.
The formulation of the cigarettes will be unchanged.
The design of the latest limited-edition packaging is said to be reminiscent of the beauty of Japanese cherry blossom (Sakura).
‘We have supplemented the current colors with those that portray the changing nature of the sky and the cherry blossom throughout the night and into the morning,’ JT said in a note posted on its website.
‘The latest edition of the Mevius branding is designed to be uplifting and enlightening, encouraging consumers to embrace new horizons.’
The first of the limited-edition packs, which were launched in May 2017, portrayed the changing face of the Sky from morning to evening.
The second, launched in October, expressed the grandeur and beauty of the Sky and Mt. Fuji.
Category: Packaging
Mevius blossoms in Japan
Tracking defended
The EU Commission has said that it has made a priority of minimising the burden of its tobacco-products tracking-and-tracing system on small and medium-sized enterprises, and ‘traditional producers’.
The Commission last week provided written answers to two questions posed by the UK member of the European Parliament, Bill Etheridge.
In a preamble to his questions, Etheridge said that with all large tobacco manufacturing plants having been closed in the UK, leaving thousands of citizens jobless, the tobacco manufacturing sector had been left to a handful of micro or small family-owned companies that were rooted in their original localities.
‘These companies rely on their ability to export the traditional tobacco products (e.g. pipe tobacco, nasal snuff, chewing tobacco) they produce and distribute,’ he said.
‘Is the Commission aware that its decision to extend the scope of “track and trace” to tobacco products destined for export:- ‘Potentially oversteps the mandate that the European Parliament has given to the Commission under the European Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU)
- ‘Establishes a self-imposed trade barrier which disproportionally impacts the smaller and traditional tobacco manufacturers, ultimately driving them out of business?’
The Commission began its reply by saying that tobacco was responsible for 700,000 premature deaths in the Union every year. This made it the ‘most significant’ cause of premature death in the Union.
‘Illicit tobacco products are less likely to be in compliance with tobacco control legislation and provide artificially cheap supplies of tobacco that affect the uptake and prevalence of smoking, in particular for young people,’ the Commission said. ‘The traceability measures provided for in Article 15 of the Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) constitute a key means for combatting fraud and strengthening tobacco control in the Union.
‘The scope of the traceability measures and in particular the obligation to apply unique identifiers to all tobacco product packets manufactured in the Union is set by Article 15 of Directive 2014/40/EU. In so doing it reflects the obligations of the state parties under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, which Article 15 of the Tobacco Products Directive is intended to implement in the EU. Article 8 of the Protocol requires its Parties to establish a tracking and tracing system for all tobacco products that are manufactured in or imported into’ their territory.
‘Minimising the burden of the system on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and traditional producers has been a priority for the Commission from the outset and a detailed assessment of the measures’ proportionality and expected impact in this respect was carried out. In addition, a number of lighter measures intended to reduce the burden on SMEs have been foreseen throughout the Commission’s proposals.’Warnings case to continue
India’s Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court’s order that quashed federal rules mandating larger health warnings on tobacco packages, according to a Reuters story.
The Karnataka High Court last month struck down the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014, which had enlarged the warnings to 85 percent of the two principal faces of packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products. The rules had been in force since 2016.
The Supreme Court, which heard petitions brought forward by tobacco-control activists, stayed the Karnataka court’s order on Monday, citing the need to protect the health of citizens.
The case is due to be heard next on March 12.
The introduction in India of bigger tobacco-pack health warnings has seen a number of false starts and U-turns.
The government issued a notification on October 15, 2014, requiring the printing of graphic health warnings on tobacco packs covering 85 percent of each of the two main surfaces. But the policy was referred to a parliamentary committee that recommended in March 2016 that, instead, the warnings should be set at 50 percent.
The government, however, decided at the end of March 2016 to go ahead with its requirement for 85 percent warnings from April 1 of that year.
In response, ITC, India’s dominant cigarette manufacturer, announced on April 2 that it had halted production at its cigarette factories because it was not ready to print the bigger, graphic warnings on its cigarette packs. The company said that its factories would be shut till clarity emerged on the matter.
The country’s other manufacturers also halted production on April 1 and bidi manufacturers followed their lead sometime later.
ITC said on April 2 that because the question of the legality of the new warnings had been and continued to be pending before the courts, it had not committed to investing substantial resources in creating the large number of printing cylinders and other tools necessary for a change to the warnings. The implementation of health-warning changes was an elaborate process entailing months of preparation and involving substantial costs.Warnings of little concern
Cigarette manufacturers in South Korea have said they are not ‘not too worried’ about the possibility that the government will increase the size of graphic health warnings on cigarettes, according to a story in The Korea Times.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs on December 23.
According to a Yonhap News Agency story from last week, a committee, comprising eight civilian experts and four government officials, met in South Korea on January 4 to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, and discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the 10 graphic images used must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
“When the government introduced the graphic health warning policy a couple of years ago, we were concerned it would reduce demand for cigarettes,” Kwak Sang-hee, a senior PR official at British American Tobacco (BAT) North Asia said in a statement reported by the Times. “But the policy turned out to have little impact on our sales. I think this time it won’t be much different.
“But we do not know for sure at this point. It may affect the demand, depending on how big the warnings will be and how they will look.”
A PR official at KT&G, the largest tobacco maker in South Korea, said the company didn’t expect a big drop in sales, citing examples in which similar policies in other countries had barely affected demand for cigarettes.
A recent survey by the Korea Health Promotion Institute suggests three-quarters of people think the graphic warnings should be larger than they are at present.
But some experts say the effects of graphic warnings are limited; and they think the government should use its tax policy if it is serious about reducing smoking rates.
But policymakers know tax policies carry political risks.Graphic HNB warnings?
A committee meeting in South Korea yesterday to consider ideas for new graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, discussed also whether ‘stronger pictorial warnings’ should be imposed on heat-not-burn products, according to a Yonhap News Agency story.
South Korea is due to change the graphic images on cigarette packs in December.
In 2016, tobacco companies were required to include graphic warnings covering 30 percent of the upper part of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
Under the requirement, the graphics must be changed every 24 months as part of efforts to maintain their effectiveness, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says.
The new graphic images are due to appear on cigarette packs by December 23, but firstly they must be approved by a committee composed of eight civilian experts and four government officials.
Figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development put the smoking rate among South Korean men aged 15 and older at 31 percent in 2015.
This was the highest rate among 15 OECD countries surveyed.
Japan came second with 30 percent, followed by Italy with 25 percent.Name change mooted
UK-based Molins PLC has said it will hold a general meeting on January 22 to consider a resolution to change its name to Mpac Group PLC, according to an Alliance News story relayed by the TMA.
The move follows Molins’ decision to sell its Instrumentation and Tobacco Machinery business in August 2017 and concentrate on packaging machines.
The company reportedly said it had ‘initiated a process to identify a new corporate name aligned to its new strategic direction’.
‘Mpac Group PLC was chosen as it is a name grounded in our business’s rich heritage and which looks forward to our future as a world leading end-to-end packaging machinery provider,’ it said.
The acquisition of the Molins Instrumentation and Tobacco Machinery business by the Italy-based Coesia Group, which includes G.D, Sasib and Flexlink, was announced on August 4.
‘The Instrumentation and Tobacco Machinery division, with 2016 revenues of approximately GB£40 million, is a global player in the design, development and manufacturing of secondary tobacco processing machinery, under the brand name Molins, as well as a leading player in process and quality control instruments and analytical smoke constituent capture machinery, under the brand name Cerulean,’ Coesia said in a press note.
“With the acquisition of Molins and Cerulean, Coesia will strengthen its leadership in the tobacco machinery industry and enhance its portfolio and product offering in the packaging and instrumentation markets” Angelos Papadimitriou, the Coesia Group’s CEO was quoted as saying.Bigger warnings sought
Most South Koreans think cigarette-pack graphic health warnings should be increased in size, while some believe they should cover the whole pack, according to a story in The Korea Herald citing the results of a poll that sought the opinions of 634 smokers and 866 non-smokers.
Not long ago, when graphic warnings were first suggested, it was said that, culturally, such warnings would not be acceptable in the country.
Currently, graphic warnings cover 50 percent of the two largest faces of packs – the front and the back.
Of the 1,500 people surveyed by the Korea Health Promotion Institute last year, 27.6 percent of adults and 29.2 percent of young people said graphic warnings should be enlarged.
Thirteen-point-one percent of those surveyed said the warnings should cover more than 90 percent of packs, while 17 percent of adults and 17.3 percent of adolescents said the entire pack should be wrapped in images showing the dangers of smoking.
Twenty-four-point-six percent of adults and 17.1 percent of young people supported the current 50 percent warnings.
The poll was said to have found also that people are ‘more impressed’ by pictorial warnings than by warning phrases alone. On a one-to-five scale, graphic warnings were said to have a 3.94 effect while warning phrases had a 2.41 effect.
South Korea’s smoking rate rose to 23.9 percent in 2016 from 22.6 percent in 2015.
The country’s smoking rate among men stood at 31 percent in 2015, the highest among the 15 member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for which statistics are available.Small retailers cry foul
More than 1,000 tobacco retailers yesterday protested outside the Union Health Ministry in Delhi, India, demanding a reduction in the size of cigarette-pack graphic health warnings, New Delhi Television has reported.
According to the retailers, protesting under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Pan Vikreta Sangh (ABPVS), which represents about 7,500,000 retailers across India, the smuggling of tobacco products has increased in the country since the graphic warnings became mandatory.
Smuggled cigarettes carried no warnings, giving the impression that they were less risky than were tax-paid products.
The protest came days after the Karnataka High Court struck down the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014, which had enlarged the warnings to 85 percent of the principal area of packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The court, however, rejected the challenge made to the rules laid down in 2008. The 2008 rules, which had required 40-percent warnings, would remain in force until the union government framed fresh rules or amended the 2008 rules.
The government is expected to appeal against the decision.
The president of the ABPVS, Ram Ashrey Mishra, said the anti-tobacco policy was being driven by vested interests promoted by various NGOs that were receiving huge sums of money from international players and that were hand-in-glove with large retailers.
They had been targeting small retailers to prevent them selling other, non-tobacco items, pushing customers to their large shops and closing out all the sources of income of small retailers.
The report said the Union Health Ministry, on September 22, sent an advisory to the Rajasthan government that sought to prevent shops selling tobacco products from selling other products such as candy, chips, biscuits and soft drinks: ‘products essentially meant for children’.
Huge warnings struck down
A court in India on Friday struck down regulations that have required tobacco companies to cover 85 percent of their packaging with graphic health warnings, according to stories in The Hindu Online, the Times of India and Reuters.
The companies were said to have won an important but partial legal battle against the union government.
The Hindu said that the Karnataka High Court on Friday had declared as unconstitutional the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014, which had enlarged the warnings to 85 percent of the principal area of packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The court, however, had rejected the challenge made to the rules laid down in 2008.
The 2008 rules, which had required 40-percent warnings, would remain in force until the union government framed fresh rules or amended the 2008 rules.
A special division bench comprising Justice B.S. Patil and Justice B.V. Nagarathna delivered the verdict on a batch of petitions filed by the Tobacco Institute of India and tobacco manufacturers before the high courts of Karnataka, Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, challenging the 2014 rules. All these petitions were transferred by India’s Supreme Court to the Karnataka High Court.
The Times report said that some public health experts felt that the court’s decision might cause harm to India’s global image.
According to Reuters, the government lawyer in the case, Krishna S. Dixit, confirmed the rules had been struck down but said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.
Tracking rules adopted
Rules governing the EU’s proposed tobacco-products tracking-and-tracing system have been adopted.
A press note issued on Friday by DG Sante (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety) said that the measures that needed to be enacted to put in place the EU-wide tracking-and-tracing system planned for under articles 15 and 16 of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive had been clarified in secondary legislation adopted by the Commission.
‘The implementing regulation on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products lays down rules that will ensure that all unit packets of tobacco products produced in, destined for or placed on the EU market will be marked with a unique identifier and their movements recorded throughout the supply chain (from the manufacturer to the last level before the retail outlet),’ the press note said.
‘It obliges each member state to appoint an entity (‘ID issuer’) responsible for generating and issuing the unique identifiers, and lays down clear rules to ensure that the traceability system remains fully independent, notably from the tobacco industry, and that functions are carried out impartially.
‘The implementing decision on technical standards for security features applied to tobacco products obliges EU countries to require security features, composed of at least five types of authentication elements (including overt, covert and semi-covert), to be applied to unit packets of tobacco products. One of these elements must be provided by an independent third-party provider.
‘Member States must ensure they have the necessary means to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the security features.’
The press note went on to say that EU countries and ‘economic operators’ could now start preparatory work for the two systems of traceability and security features.
‘These should be in place by 20 May 2019 for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco and by 24 May 2024 for all other tobacco products (such as cigars, cigarillos and smokeless tobacco products).
