A proposal from the UAE’s Health Ministry may bring the UAE into a global trend towards plain cigarette pack designs, which it would enforce from 2016.
Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the UAE National Committee for Tobacco Control at the Ministry of Health (MoH), told local media that the initiative aims to stamp out smoking in the UAE over two years.
“We need a plainer packaging,” she said.
Manufacturers would be banned from featuring any branding on boxes but would have to print large health warnings. Photos illustrating the dangers could take up 70% of the cover of cigarette packs, up from 50% today, added Dr Al Maidoor.
Under the proposal, all cigarette packs would have a standard appearance and colour with the brand name in a mandatory size, font and location.
Australia has pioneered a global drive to enforce plain packaging for cigarettes.
Since 1 December 2012, the only eye-catching features on Australian cigarette boxes are gruesome illustrations of victims of smoking-related disease.
The policy’s apparent success in prompting smokers to quit has led New Zealand to aim to legislate for plain cigarette packaging this year.
The UK is also considering a similar shift towards standardised cigarette packs.
Dr Al Maidoor also aims to raise the price of tobacco products in the UAE, where cigarettes are far cheaper than in western countries, where ‘sin taxes’ already deter smoking.