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Cigarette packs on Hong Kong shelves will begin switching to standardized, plain packaging starting next March, followed by a nine-month transition period ahead of full enforcement on December 1.
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The Department of Health announced on Thursday that the new regulations mandating standardized packaging for conventional smoking products, along with a duty stamp system, will be gazetted on Friday and take effect on March 1 next year.
The legislation will set out the sizes, colors and permitted markings of cigarette packaging, stripping both decorative and promotional elements.
Under the rules, only the brand and variant name will be permitted, printed in a prescribed font on the brown box.
Addressing industry concerns that the rules would leave many products unsellable, the DH said the newly prescribed pack dimensions have been relaxed to 85 to 125 millimeters in height, 50 to 72 millimeters in width and 10 to 30 millimeters in depth.
Manny Lam Man-chung, head of the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office, assured that the new dimensions would cover the majority of tobacco products on the market without further changes.
Lam dismissed claims that 40 percent of cigarettes would become unsellable as misleading, pointing out that the government had drawn on international precedents, such as Australia’s specifications, where no mass market withdrawals occurred.
He stressed that as the regulation covers only tobacco packaging, the products themselves can be sold as usual as long as the packaging complies.
During the transition window between March 1 and November 30, three categories of stock will be allowed on the market: packs imported before March 1 without duty labels, imports brought in after March 1 in legacy packaging with duty labels, and compliant new packs carrying duty labels.
Lam expressed confidence that the nine-month grace period would provide sufficient time for the trade to clear non-compliant stock. He warned that selling non-compliant packs after the transition period carries a maximum fine of HK$50,000 upon conviction.
He added that the measures are designed to reduce the appeal of tobacco products, eliminate brand prestige, and prevent consumers from underestimating health risks.
Duty stamp system
Alongside plain packaging, a duty stamp system featuring physical and digital anti-counterfeiting safeguards will be rolled out to curb illicit trade.
Following the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the government will also update the images and text of the 12 graphic health warnings used since 2018.
Lam noted that the updated warnings feature more prominent and deterrent imagery to ensure smokers clearly recognize the harms of tobacco.
When asked whether point-of-sale packet displays would face future restrictions, Lam indicated that authorities would evaluate additional control measures as needed.
Henry Tong Sau-chai, chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, expressed full support for the measures, believing they would boost smokers' motivation to quit and prevent teenagers from being attracted by colorful displays.
The Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association welcomed the relaxed limits but said new packaging would take about a year to produce, delaying new stock until the third or fourth quarter of next year.
The association urged authorities to push back the rollout date by several months to give the retail sector adequate preparation time.
Unlikely to have much effect: smokers
Some local smokers voiced doubt that plain packaging would alter their habits, calling smoking an ingrained part of their daily routine.
However, many agreed that public education should be strengthened to keep adolescents from picking up the habit.
