TIRANA, May 31 – Albania will make pictorial health warnings on cigarettes packs compulsory starting January 2018 in new measures to curb high smoking rates after consecutive tax hikes have already had a discouraging effect.
The decision was announced on Tuesday, the World No Tobacco Day, following recommendations by the World Health Organization and after new packaging with large pictorial health warnings recently became effective in EU member countries.
“It is now a widely accepted fact that Albania has made steps forward in protecting health from tobacco products and this is proved not only by monitoring but also studies,” said Health Minister Ilir Beqaj.
“Latest data by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey in 2015 show the smoking rate among youngsters aged between 13 to 15 years old halved to 6 percent from 11.5 percent in 2009,” said the minister, attributing the cut to the tougher implementation of the law banning smoking in enclosed public spaces.
The new changes will make it compulsory for tobacco companies to print clear text and picture warnings on tobacco products in Albanian language. The signs must cover at least 50 percent of the surface and 30 percent of cigarette package front.
Albania is one of the countries with the highest smoking rates, at about 40 percent and some 3,300 people a year are estimated to die of smoking-related diseases.
Back in 2014, some amendments to the law banning smoking in enclosed public spaces increased fines by 6-fold to 300,000 lek (€2,130), a tough penalty for Albanian standards, while more intensive inspections and fines made the law which had been largely ignored since its approval in 2007 enforceable, although mostly in urban areas.
The Albanian government has regularly raised the excise rate on tobacco during the past few years but dropped plans for a new hike this year following a sharp decline in imports affecting government revenue.
The excise rate on a 20-cigarette packs currently stands at 110 lek (€0.77) while retail prices for the most popular brands range from 200 lek to 300 lek (€1.4 to 2.1) per packet.
Albanians are estimated to spend more than 300 million euros on tobacco products every year.
Cigarette imports have suffered drastic decline in the past five years due to sharp hikes in excise duty, making prices unaffordable for thousands of smokers who have mostly shifted to domestic hand-rolled tobacco. Tobacco importers say there has been a shift toward hand-rolled unprocessed tobacco which is mainly sold on the black market and mostly produced in the mountain areas in the northern region of Shkodra and the central Albanian region of Elbasan.
Cigarette imports dropped to 2,478 tonnes in 2015, down from 2,968 tonnes in 2014 and a record high of 4,500 tonnes in 2010, giving rise to allegations of increased smuggling.
In 2015, the excise duty on 20-cigarette packs was increased by another 20 lek (Euro 0.14), taking the total excise rate to 110 lek (€0.77) per packet. Plans to apply a new excise duty hike for 2016 were dropped following a sharp decline in imports.
Plain packaging of tobacco products restricts or prohibits the use of logos, colours, brand images and promotional information on packaging other than brand and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style, says the World Health Organization.
“Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products. It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “It restricts tobacco advertising and promotion. It limits misleading packaging and labelling. And it increases the effectiveness of health warnings.”
Tobacco-related illness is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. Approximately 1 person dies from a tobacco-caused disease every 6 seconds, equivalent to almost 6 million people a year.
