THE Ministry of Health (MOH) is studying a proposal to bar the display of branding on tobacco product packaging in line with the amendment to the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill. 

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the proposal was for tobacco product packaging not to display branding and to have plain packaging instead.

He said, however, the matter required engagement with all parties, including civil society groups involved in health matters and operations at business premises.

“If there is a display ban, then owners of premises must make modifications that will involve many stakeholders. Once the study is completed, we will make a decision and transition towards the move,” he told reporters today.

Khairy said should the ban on branding on tobacco product packaging be implemented, it would not be inserted in the amended bill but its provisions will be stipulated in the rules and regulations that will be drawn after the bill is tabled.

Previously, it was reported that the draft bill to ban smoking among those born in 2005 and after was in the final stages of review by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and was expected to be tabled in Parliament in July.

Under the proposed act, children born in 2005 and the subsequent years are prohibited from smoking and buying or possessing any type of smoking products, including electronic cigarettes or vape products, even after reaching 18 years old. – Bernama, May 19, 2022.