Plain Packaging in the UK
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Plain Packaging in the UK, Tobacco Tactics, updated 08 June 2020, accessed 19 April 2024.
Background
Plain, or standardised packaging as it is formally known, refers to a policy which mandates the removal of all brand images, colours and messages from tobacco products. Tobacco products are instead packaged in the same size, shape, style and colour packaging (usually dark brown or green) with all brand names and variants in the same typeface and font size.
In the UK, plain packaging legislation was approved in March 2015 after many years of public consultation and debate and significant and sustained opposition from tobacco companies and their allies. This page provides a timeline detailing the evolution of plain packaging policy in the UK.
Visit the pages on tobacco industry opposition to plain packaging 2012 and 2015 for a detailed history of the industry’s opposition to the policy.
2008
May: Consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control
The Consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control mentioned plain packaging for the first time.1
2010
November: Healthy Lives, Healthy People
In November 2010, the UK Government announced it would consider introducing plain packaging for cigarettes and other tobacco products. Its official Strategy for Public Health in England (March 2011) stated:
“The Government will look at whether the plain packaging of tobacco products could be an effective way to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking and to help those who are trying to quit smoking.”2
2011
March: Tobacco Control Plan for England
The Tobacco Control Plan for England (March 2011) included a commitment to a public consultation to:
“Look at whether the plain packaging of tobacco products could be an effective way to reduce the number of young people who take up smoking and to support adult smokers who want to quit, and consult on options by the end of the year.”3
2012
February: Regulatory Policy Committee gives Amber Rating
The Regulatory Policy Committee (a non-departmental body affiliated with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), which provides the UK government with external, independent scrutiny of new regulatory proposals, 4 gave the Department of Health’s impact assessment on plain packaging5 an amber rating.6 This meant that the Impact Assessment was considered ‘fit for purpose’ on the condition that changes were made to the Impact Assessment to respond to the concerns raised in the rating summary.
April – August: First Public Consultation on Plain Packaging
The Government’s consultation on plain packaging (Image 1) commenced on 16 April 2012 and closed on 10 August 2012.
As part of the Government’s consultation, the Department of Health published an independent scientific review which examined the findings of 37 academic studies that provided the most current evidence of the potential impacts of plain tobacco packaging. This review found that:
“There is strong evidence to support the propositions set out in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) relating to the role of plain packaging in helping to reduce smoking rates; that is, that plain packaging would reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products, it would increase the noticeability and effectiveness of health warnings and messages, and it would reduce the use of design techniques that may mislead consumers about the harmfulness of tobacco products. In addition, the studies in this review show that plain packaging is perceived by both smokers and non-smokers to reduce initiation among non-smokers and cessation-related behaviours among smokers.”7
The tobacco industry’s reaction to the consultation was extremely hostile. Many of the arguments the industry and its front groups have made against plain packaging were very similar to those that they had used to oppose earlier regulations. There was also consistency with previous behaviour in the way that the industry conveyed these arguments to their key stakeholders, i.e. policy makers, retailers and the general public.
See:
In their submissions to the Consultation, in addition to critiquing the pre-existing evidence on the potential efficacy of plain packaging, each of the big four tobacco companies in the UK argued against plain packaging using the voices of a number of seemingly ‘independent’ experts and organisations.891011 However, upon closer inspection, many of these organisations and experts have connections with the tobacco industry.
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2013
May: Plain Packaging Omitted from the Queen’s Speech
Despite political and media speculation that it would be included in the Queen’s Speech in May 2013, plain packaging was not incorporated in the Government’s legislative programme.
It was widely reported that the reason for the Government’s abandonment of plain packaging (along with other public health measures such as minimum pricing for alcohol) was the influence of Conservative campaign strategist, Lynton Crosby. Crosby owns an Australian PR and lobbying firm called the Crosby Textor Group, “a specialist opinion research, strategic communications and campaigns company”12 which has links with both the tobacco and alcohol industries.13 Sparking concern from public health groups, Crosby Textor was appointed by the Conservative Party in December 2012 to provide ‘strategic direction’ for the next election.14
Despite owning CTF and being a lobbying specialist, Downing Street stated that Lynton Crosby’s meetings with the Prime Minister and other ministers would not be publicly disclosed as he was classed as a political advisor. 15
On 8 May 2013, despite plain packaging’s omission in the Queen’s speech, a spokesperson for David Cameron insisted that no decision had been taken over the issue.16
July: We Will “Wait and See”
On 12 July 2013, it was announced that the British Government would await the outcomes of plain packaging in Australia before going ahead with legislation in the UK. The ‘wait and see’ argument is an example of many arguments used by Tobacco Companies against plain packaging legislation. The announcement was met with disappointment from the public health community and sparked criticism from MPs regarding Lynton Crosby‘s links with the tobacco industry.17
November: Government U-Turn – Chantler Review Commissioned
On 28 November 2013, the Government announced that it had commissioned Paediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler to conduct a review of the most recent evidence for plain packaging. The review was expected to conclude in March 2014. This move followed an indication that the House of Lords would support a cross-party amendment to the Children and Families Bill that would allow the introduction of plain packaging.1819 These proposed amendments were published on 17th December 2013.20 Health Minister Jane Ellison suggested that, if the emerging evidence following the introduction of plain packaging in Australia was sufficiently in favour of plain packaging, then legislation may be introduced relatively quickly.21
The media speculated that the Government’s U-turn was a cynical political move to protect itself from defeat in the House of Lords over the issue and from criticism from the pro-plain packaging movement in the build-up to the 2015 General Election.22
2014
February: Parliament Accepts Amendments to Children and Families Bill
On 10 February 2014, UK Parliament accepted amendments to the Children and Families Bill, which would enable the Government to:
1. Introduce regulations requiring plain packaging for tobacco products;
2. Introduce regulations making it an offence to sell e-cigarettes to children under 18;
3. Make it an offence for an adult to buy cigarettes for anyone under the age of 18 (proxy purchasing).2324
In the whipped vote, 453 MPs voted in favour of the amendments and only 24 voted against.
April: Chantler Review Published
On 3 April 2014 Sir Cyril Chantler’s findings were published.25
Chantler concluded:
“Having reviewed the evidence it is in my view highly likely that standardised packaging would serve to reduce the rate of children taking up smoking and implausible that it would increase the consumption of tobacco. I am persuaded that branded packaging plays an important role in encouraging young people to smoke and in consolidating the habit irrespective of the intentions of the industry.”(p6)25
Health Minister Ellison announced that the Government would, as a result, conduct another brief Consultation on the proposed legislation.26
June – August: Second Public Consultation on Plain Packaging
On 26 June 2014, the Government published the ‘Consultation on the introduction of regulations for standardised packaging of tobacco products’ The consultation ran for six weeks until 7 August 2014. For more information, read the TobaccoTactics page on the Second Consultation.
August – March: EU Notification Period
Following the two public consultations, the UK Government drafted regulations and notified the European Union (EU) of its intent to introduce plain packaging on 29 August 2014. As part of the notification process, the EU had six months until 2 March 2015, to consider any responses. Eleven were received from EU member states, namely Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. 27 Pending approval from the EU, the UK government needed to finalise its plans for plain packaging very shortly afterwards in order for the regulation to be passed before the impending General Election.28
On 16 December, Ellison responded to a Parliamentary question about the introduction of plain packaging:
“The Government has not yet made a final decision on whether to introduce standardised packaging of tobacco products. The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products and a decision will be taken in due course. The United Kingdom notified the draft regulations under the EU Technical Standards Directive (Directive 98/34/EC). Pursuant to this Directive, the regulations cannot be made until after the notification ‘standstill’ period has ended on 2 March 2015. If the Government does decide to proceed with standardised packaging, a decision will then be made as to the appropriate Parliamentary timetable for the proposed regulations.”29
In December 2014, nearly 4,000 public health professionals signed an open letter, sent to both the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary, insisting that plain packaging regulations be approved before the election. The authors of the letter warned: “More than half a million children have taken up smoking since the government first announced it would consult on plain standardised packaging of cigarette packs in 2011, and every day hundreds more join them.”30
2015
January: Government Announces it Will Lay Regulations
On 21 January 2015, the UK Government announced it would proceed with plain packaging legislation.31 Explaining the Government’s support, Ellison said:
“Having considered all the evidence, the Secretary of State and I believe that the policy packaging is a proportionate and justified response to the considerable public health harm from smoking tobacco. The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed this view.
I now propose that we lay regulations for standardised packaging in this Parliament to allow for them to come into force at the same time as the European Tobacco Products Directive in May 2016. In doing so we would be bringing the prospect of our first smoke-free generation one step closer.”31
Ellison said a free vote would be open to MPs in both Houses before May, thereby allowing the legislation to come into force before the General Election approved.
March: Plain Packaging Legislation Passed in the UK Parliament
On 11 March 2015, MPs in The House of Commons voted in favour of plain packaging (367 for and 113 against). The measure was broadly supported by Labour and Liberal Democrats with opposition coming from Conservative MPs.32 The legislation was subsequently accepted into the House of Lords on 16 March and came into effect on 20 May 2016 alongside the EU Tobacco Products Directive.33
Despite legal threats by the tobacco industry, legal opinion commissioned by Action for Smoking and Health and Cancer Research UK stated that plain packaging laws proposed in the UK were in line with EU law regarding trademarks and fundamental rights. The opinion concluded that tobacco companies would not be entitled to compensation where countries introduce legislation to protect public health.34
May: Tobacco Industry Launches Legal Campaign Against UK Government
On 22 May 2015, Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) filed separate lawsuits challenging the UK law.35 The cases were taken against the UK Government for projected loss of income, breach of intellectual property and violation of UK and European Law.
On 26 May 2015, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) joined the legal battle and filed High Court action on the basis that standardised packaging measures infringed the UK’s obligations under World Trade Organisation rules. 36 Daniel Torreas, Managing Director JTI UK, claimed that “plain packaging will infringe fundamental legal rights without reducing smoking. Despite the lack of evidence that plain packaging works, the Government has decided to proceed and JTI must now protect its rights in the courts.”37
2016
19 May: High Court Rules in Favour of Government
A day before the UK was due to come into force the UK High Court ruled that the legislation could proceed.38
20 May: Plain Packaging Comes into Force
The legislation came into force on 20 May 2016 giving tobacco companies one year to achieve full compliance. In the UK, the introduction of standardised packaging coincided with the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive which sets out new rules on tobacco packaging such as the increased size and positioning of health warnings. The UK law on standardised packaging requires the following: 38
* No branding other than the product name in a standard font, size and colour;
* Prohibition of all other trademarks, logos, colour schemes and graphics;
* The only colour permitted on the external surface (excluding the pictorial health warning and written text) is Pantone 448C with matt finish;
* Cigarette packets must be cuboid in shape and contain a minimum of 20 cigarettes
* Packaging of hand-rolled tobacco must also be in same Pantone 448C colour and contain a minimum of 30g of tobacco.
TobaccoTactics Resources
For more information on plain packaging see:
- 2012 Consultation
- Opposition Following January 2015 Announcement
- Countering Industry Arguments against Plain Packaging
- Members of UK Parliament Opposed to Plain Packaging
- Developing the Intellectual Property Argument
- Good Quotes on Plain Packaging
- Legal Claims, also see Australia: Trademark claims
- The Plain Pack Group, A Coordinated Industry Response to Plain Packaging
- Industry Arguments Against Plain Packaging
- Plain Packaging in Australia
- Plain Packaging in the EU
- Plain Packaging Opposition in Scotland
- Countering Industry Arguments against Plain Packaging
- A list of pages in the category Plain Packaging in the UK
TCRG Research
- For a summary of our relevant peer-reviewed research, see Tobacco Control Research Group: Evidence on Plain Packaging
- Standardised tobacco packaging: a health policy case study of corporate conflict expansion and adaptation, J. Hatchard, G. Fooks, A. Gilmore,
- ‘It will harm business and increase illicit trade’: an evaluation of the relevance, quality and transparency of evidence submitted by transnational tobacco companies to the UK consultation on standardised packaging 2012, K. Evans-Reeves, J. Hatchard, A. Gilmore, 2015, Tobacco Control, 24(e2), e168-e177, doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051930
- International trade law, plain packaging and tobacco industry political activity: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, G. Fooks, A. Gilmore, 2014, Tobacco Control, 23(1), e1, doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050869
- A critical evaluation of the volume, relevance and quality of evidence submitted by the tobacco industry to oppose standardised packaging of tobacco products, J. Hatchard, G. Fooks, K. Evans-Reeves, S. Ulucanlar, A. Gilmore, 2014, BMJ Open 4(2), e003757, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003757
- Representation and Misrepresentation of Scientific Evidence in Contemporary Tobacco Regulation: A Review of Tobacco Industry Submissions to the UK Government Consultation on Standardised Packaging, S. Ulucanlar, G. Fooks, J. Hatchard, A. Gilmore, 2014, PLOS Medicine, 11(3), e1001629, doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001629
- How do corporations use evidence in public health policy making? The case of standardised tobacco packaging, J Hatchard, K. Evans-Reeves, S. Ulucanlar, G. Fooks, A. Gilmore, 2013, The Lancet, 382(s3), S42, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62467-8
For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to TCRG publications.
