They have been long coming but appeared over the New Year. See here for a previous report on these rules, here for parallel rules in Thailand and here for a global summary of the issues surrounding the attack on trademarks worldwide, stemming from the tobacco packaging attack in Australia.
The new Regulation aims to improve public health by controlling tobacco products, specifically cigarette promotion, distribution, and packaging by targeting
several areas -
- misleading promotional terms are prohibited
- use of descriptors like MILD, SLIM, LIGHT, but there
are a maze of rules on these, stemming from the fact that as a non English
speaking nation, many descriptors are also part of registered trademarks
especially by local companies, such as STAR MILD (pictured).
- 40% of packs must be used for pictorial health warnings, but tobacco companies have an 18 month window to comply.
- Sponsorship restrictions are clarified
Indonesia is schizophrenic over tobacco since it is a major
industry with 6 million employees, due especially to the unique clove kretek
cigarette industry. Indonesia has even supported Ukraine's WTO complaint against Australia
over its harsh plain packaging rules. Whether these two different approaches within the government
can ever be reconciled is hard to see.
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