Canada � s Experience: Prohibition of Additives in Cigarettes World Cancer Congress, Montréal August 2012
An Act to Amend the Tobacco Act • Increased restrictions on advertising • Required minimum packaging for little cigars and blunt wraps in packages of at least 20 units as already required for cigarettes • Prohibited the use of certain additives, including flavours, in cigarettes, little cigars and blunt wraps 2
Examples of little cigar packaging 3
Tobacco Industry Interventions in Parliamentary Committees • The Act would: ! violate Trade Agreements (NAFTA, WTO) as unnecessarily restrictive on trade ! effectively ban American-blend cigarettes that use � non- characterising � additives to mask bitterness of burley tobacco leaf ! result in close of Canadian manufacturing plants and loss of jobs (eg. RBH in Quebec) ! fuel contraband market. • Government should use less restrictive models as seen in other countries. 4
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WTO Technical Barriers to Trade • Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee meetings provide a forum for Members to ask questions and express concerns. • Amendment raised at 5 meetings: November 2009, March 2010, June 2010, November 2010 and March 2011. • 29 Members expressed concerns, some of whom have little to no tobacco trade with Canada. 6
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