Release Date: 6 June 2011

The issue of plain packaging for tobacco products is under review by a number of Government's and has been highlighted in a recent article in Packaging News. Tony Edwards, divisional managing director C&SP at Filtrona, replied to a number of questions for this article highlighting the issues below:

Q. Is it right that cigarettes should be contained in plain packaging? What are the ethical issues?

We fully support the responsible marketing of legally-sold tobacco products according to the appropriate legislation.  Those who advocate plain packaging feel it may help to discourage smoking but there are deep concerns as to how this could encourage an even greater influx of illicit products, with far increased health risks, as well as loss of revenue to the government, as smokers turn to the black market and the unregulated counterfeit products.

Q. Is plain packaging a “counterfeiter’s charter”? Will we see track and trace technology used to tackle this?

According to HM Revenue and Customs, the trade in illicit tobacco costs the UK at least £2bn a year in lost revenue and since 2000 over 20 billion cigarettes and 2,700 tonnes of tobacco have been seized, the majority of which is counterfeit.  For smokers, counterfeit cigarettes can contain three times the level of arsenic, five times the level of cadmium and nearly six times the level of lead found in genuine brands.  They have also been found to contain sawdust, tobacco beetles and rat droppings.

Without the need or effort required to copy genuine packaging, counterfeit tobacco would become much more difficult for the user to detect.  Plain packaging would make counterfeiting easier and cheaper and detection more onerous and expensive.

The packaging and printing industries have done much development work to create effective anti-counterfeit and track & trace systems in order to deal with the problem of counterfeiting.  Many of the most effective systems include both overt and covert methods and many are incorporated into existing pack designs. The concern therefore would be that a plain pack would severely limit the scope for many of these technologies and features.

Q. What will this mean for designers in the sector? Could this mean different box shapes in order for a brand to stand out?

It would be better at this stage for all those involved to focus on the current proposal rather than seeking ways around it before it has even become law.  Nevertheless, the fact is that packaging helps to create brand differentiation, which is essential to promote effective competition and ensure consumer choice for what is in the end a legal product. There is the danger that plain packaging will only increase customer confusion without actually discouraging use of the product itself.

Filtrona Coated & Security Products has made submissions to both the recent EU & Australian consultations on tobacco products and highlighted in particular its views in regards to the potential consequences on the trade in illicit tobacco.