Cigarette Packaging

The Philippines issued an Order on May 24, 2010, which required pictorial health warnings on all tobacco packages. According to the
Order, the warnings were to occupy the top 30% of the front and 60% of the back of the package. The warnings were to be in place 3
months after the publication of the order (i.e., the end of August, 2010); however, implementation of the warnings was delayed due to a
legal challenge.
On July 18, 2014, the President of the Philippines signed a new Graphic Health Warning Bill into law. The law requires graphic health
warnings on the bottom 50% of the front and back of tobacco packages, and a ban on misleading descriptors. A set of twelve different
warnings will be rotated on packs, and changed every 24 months. Warning templates were released in late 2014. Different versions have
been designed for use on light and dark colored packs, as well as for vertical and horizontal packs. The new warnings are expected to
appear in the market in mid-2016 as tobacco manufacturers and importers have been given one years time from the release of the
templates to implement the warnings; and retailers have been given an additional 8 months to exhaust stock with the text warnings.
Meanwhile, text warnings covering 30% of the front panel continue to appear on packages.
The Philippines is considered one of the top 20 smoking nations in the world. Based on the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS),
twenty-eight percent or 17.3 million Filipino adults age 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers. Statistics reveal that almost half (48
percent or 14.6 million) of adult males and 9 percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers. Male consumers are reported to
consume 11 cigarettes per day while female smokers consume 7 cigarettes daily.
Smokers are aware that smoking is harmful to their health but they still smoke anyway. For the past 50 years or so, people have been aware
that smoking can kill but why do millions continue and pick up the deadly habit?
WHO claims that since the 1950s, graphic warnings produce fear appeals that encourage significant number of smokers to quit the habit.
Harvard reports that a study claims that pictorial graphic warnings are more effective in curtailing smoking than text-only versions.
Starting this year, the Philippines joins the list of countries that include graphic warnings on cigarette packaging to help spread awareness
about the detrimental effects of smoking to the body. Both local and imported cigarettes available in the Philippine market are sanctioned to
display graphic health warnings of smoking on its packaging.

Effective March 3, 2016, the Graphic Health Warning (GHW) Law was implemented to discourage Filipinos from smoking. Also known
as Republic Act No. 10643 (RA 10643), GHW is an act that seeks to effectively instill health consciousness through graphic health
warnings on tobacco products.
The said Act also aims to remove misleading or deceptive descriptors like low tar, light, ultra lights or mild which convey that a
tobacco product is healthier, less harmful or safer.
Health Secretary Janette Garin said that tobacco companies are now required to print 12 graphic health warning templates on cigarette

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packages.

What is expected of the graphic health warning is to convey the visual message that this can happen to you if you continue smoking,
Garin said on Philstar.com.

The first phase of the law also includes the ban on the manufacture and importation of products without the graphic health warning.

Cigarettes with old packaging may still be sold in the market. Tobacco companies are given enough time to dispose of their old stocks.

CNN Philippines reports that by November 3, 2016 all cigarettes sold in the market are expected to display picture warnings that cover the
lower half of a pack. There should also be additional information on the side panels, which may include hotlines or websites for smoking
related concerns.

There will be an absolute prohibition on the retail sale of tobacco products without graphic warnings beginning Nov. 3, 2016. Manufacturers,
importers, and distributors who do not comply with the law will be liable to pay the fine of up to P500,000 on the first offense, and up to P1
million on the second offense. A third offense can result to a fine of as high as P2 million and possibility of being imprisoned of not more
than five years. Stores that disregard the law can also lose their business permits.