S.I. No. 350/1979 - Tobacco Products (Control of Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion) Regulations, 1979.

S.I. No. 350 of 1979.

TOBACCO PRODUCTS (CONTROL OF ADVERTISING, SPONSORSHIP AND SALES PROMOTION) REGULATIONS, 1979.

The Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 2 of the Tobacco Products (Control of Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion) Act, 1978 (No. 27 of 1978), hereby makes the following Regulations:—

PART I. General.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Tobacco Products (Control of Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion) Regulations, 1979.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 30th day of November, 1979, with the exception of articles 10, 12 and 18 which shall come into operation on the 30th day of May, 1980.

3. In these Regulations—

"the Act" means the Tobacco Products (Control of Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion) Act, 1978 ;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Health;

"cigarettes" include hand rolling tobacco;

"package" includes any packet, container, wrapper or other form of packaging.

4. These Regulations may be enforced by officers of the Minister and by officers of health boards established under the Health Act, 1970 (No. 1 of 1970).

5. A person engaged in the importation, manufacture, sale, promotion or distribution of tobacco products shall furnish to the Minister such information as the Minister considers necessary for the enforcement of these Regulations, and such information shall include the provision of information on expenditure on advertising and on sponsorship.

6. A person shall not import for sale any newspaper, magazine, or publication containing an advertisement for a tobacco product unless—

(i) the advertisement for the tobacco product complies with the provisions of these Regulations, or

(ii) the Minister has determined that the advertisement for the tobacco product conforms generally with the intent of the requirements of these Regulations, and, in particular, that it includes as appropriate a statement required in the country of origin indicating the risk to the health of persons associated with the use of cigarettes, or that it will not significantly increase the consumption of tobacco products in the State.

7. (1) Following the publication of the appropriate notice referred to in sub-article (3) of this article a person shall not accept an advertisement for a tobacco product for display or publication from a person the limit on the amount of whose expenditure upon advertising of tobacco products has not been determined by the Minister in accordance with the provisions of article 17 of these Regulations.

(2) Following the publication of the appropriate notice referred to in sub-article (3) of this article a person shall not accept any sponsorship as defined in the Act, from a person the limit on the amount of whose expenditure upon sponsorship has not been determined by the Minister in accordance with the provisions of article 20 of these Regulations.

(3) The Minister shall on an appropriate day in the month of January, 1980, in the month of December, 1980, and in the month of December in each subsequent year cause a notice to be published in Iris Oifigiúil and in two or more daily newspapers containing a list of persons the limit on the amount of whose expenditure upon advertising of tobacco products has been determined in pursuance of the provisions of article 17 of these Regulations and of persons the limit on the amount of whose expenditure on sponsorship has been determined in accordance with the provisions of article 20 of these Regulations.

8. The provisions of these Regulations shall not apply to—

( a ) advertisements directed solely to the tobacco trade and which do not reach the public, and

( b ) the sale and advertising of tobacco products in duty-free zones at airports and on board aircraft and ships.

PART II. Advertising and Promotion of Tobacco Products and Labelling of Packages.

9. (1) A person shall not advertise tobacco products save in accordance with this part of these Regulations.

(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-articles (3), (4) and (5) of this article and of articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 tobacco products may be advertised only—

( a ) in newspapers, magazines or other similar publications, other than comics, comic supplements or any other publications directed primarily to persons under the age of eighteen years,

( b ) internally in premises which are points of retail sale of tobacco products,

( c ) externally at premises which are points of retail sale of tobacco products, by means of fascia signs, fixed window advertisements and hanging box signs, where such types of signs and advertisements for tobacco products were displayed at such premises on the 31st day of October, 1979, and where the size of the signs and advertisements does not exceed the following dimensions:—

(i) 6 metres x 65 centimetres for fascia signs and for fixed window advertisements,

(ii) 90 centimetres x 70 centimetres x 30 centimetres for hanging box signs,

( d ) externally at premises which are points of retail sale of tobacco products, by means of fixed enamel-plate advertisements where such advertisements were displayed at such premises on the 31st day of October, 1979, and

( e ) on or inside packages of tobacco products.

(3) Advertisements for tobacco products, which exceed the dimensions specified in sub-article (2) (c) of this article or which do not comply with article 10, 11 or 13 but which were displayed by means of fascia signs, fixed window advertisements or hanging box signs on the 31st day of October, 1979, may continue to be so displayed until the 28th day of November, 1980.

(4) Advertisements for tobacco products which do not conform with the provisions of sub-article (2) (d) of this article or with article 10, 11 or 13 but which were displayed by means of fixed enamel-plate advertisements on the 31st day of October, 1979, may continue to be so displayed until the 28th day of November, 1980.

(5) Advertisements for tobacco products may continue to be displayed until the 31st day of January, 1980, where advertisements for tobacco products, other than those referred to in sub-article (2) (b), (2) (c), (2) (d), (3) or (4) of this article, were displayed during the twelve months ended on the 31st day of October, 1979.

10. Advertisements referred to in article 9 (2) (a), 9 (2) (b), 9 (2) (c) or 9 (2) (d) shall not contain anything other than the following:—

( a ) a brand name, brand emblem, corporate name and emblem,

( b ) representations of the tobacco product and package,

( c ) an indication of the place of manufacture, type, quantity and price, and

( d ) a text referring to quality.

11. Advertisements shall not—

( a ) claim or imply that smoking is free from risk to health or that it is less harmful to smoke one brand of tobacco product than another,

( b ) describe filters, additives, tobacco substitutes, other components of tobacco products or manufacturing processes so as to suggest that they render the product less harmful to health, or

( c ) include or imply any personal testimonial for, or recommendation of, a tobacco product, or claim or imply directly, or indirectly, the recommendation of a particular brand by any group or class of people.

12. Every advertisement for cigarettes placed in accordance with the provisions of article 9 (2) (a) shall include a statement, in one of the forms prescribed in Part I of the Schedule to these Regulations indicating the risk to the health of persons which is associated with the use of cigarettes, which shall comply with the requirements set out in Part 2 of the said Schedule.

13. Reference to or representation of tobacco products shall not be included in any advertisement for any other article or service, save that such reference or representation of tobacco products may be made on fascia signs displayed externally at premises which are points of retail sale of tobacco products where the reference or representation complies with the provisions of articles 9 (2) (c), 9 (3), 10 and 11.

14. The sale of tobacco products shall not be promoted by means of—

( a ) offers to sell a product of a particular brand at a price lower than that otherwise obtaining for that brand by making available to persons a coupon or similar document or otherwise, or

( b ) offering vouchers, trading stamps, coupons, tokens, premia or gifts in relation to the sale and purchase of tobacco products.

15. (1) A person shall not sell a tobacco product at a price as respects which the Minister, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by paragraph (i) of subsection (2) of section 2 of the Act, has formed an opinion that the sale of that product at such a price constitutes a sales promotion device.

(2) Where the Minister, after consultation with the person promoting the sale of the particular brand of tobacco product, has formed an opinion of the kind referred to in sub-article (1) of this article he shall—

( a ) inform the person concerned of his opinion, and

( b ) cause a notice of his opinion to be published in Iris Oifigiúil and in two or more daily newspapers.

16. A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products shall not give financial or other inducements in respect of tobacco products supplied for retail sale in consideration of being allowed to advertise the product at the point of retail sale.

17. (1) A person shall not incur expenditure on advertising of tobacco products in the year ended on the 31st day of December, 1980, in excess of the amount determined in respect of that year by the Minister after consultation with such person and in each succeeding year shall not incur such expenditure in excess of the amount determined for the year ended on the 31st day of December, 1980, together with an increase by a percentage equal to the percentage by which the Consumer Price Index for mid-November in the year preceding each such succeeding year shall exceed the Consumer Price Index for mid-November, 1979.

(2) A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products in respect of which, in the twelve months prior to the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, expenditure on the advertisement of tobacco products had not been incurred in the State, shall not commence, or cause to be commenced, advertising in the State, without the prior approval of the Minister who shall, at the same time, determine the expenditure which such person may expend or cause to be expended on advertising during a specified period.

(3) Expenditure for the purposes of this article means the total expenditure incurred on the preparation and display of advertisements but does not include expenditure on the design and production of packages.

(4) A decision of the Minister in pursuance of the provisions of sub-article (1) or (2) of this article shall be communicated in writing to the person concerned.

18. Every package of cigarettes supplied for retail sale by a person engaged in the manufacture, packaging or importation of tobacco products shall bear a statement, in one of the forms prescribed in Part 1 of the Schedule to these Regulations indicating the risk to the health of persons which is associated with the use of cigarettes, which shall comply with the requirements set out in Part 3 of the said Schedule.

PART III. Sponsorship and Related Advertising

19. A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products shall not engage in the sponsorship of events or activities in which the participants are mainly under eighteen years of age.

20. (1) A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products shall not incur expenditure on sponsorship in the year ended on the 31st day of December, 1980, in excess of the amount determined in respect of that year by the Minister after consultation with such person, and in each succeeding year shall not incur such expenditure in excess of the amount determined for the year ended on the 31st day of December, 1980, together with an increase by a percentage equal to the percentage by which the Consumer Price Index for mid-November in the year preceding each such succeeding year shall exceed the Consumer Price Index for mid-November, 1979.

(2) A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products who has, in the twelve months prior to the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, engaged in sponsorship in the State shall not commence any sponsorship in the State not hitherto undertaken in the State by a person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products without the prior approval of the Minister who shall, at the same time, determine the expenditure which such person may expend on any such sponsorship during a specified period.

(3) A person engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of tobacco products who has not, in the twelve months prior to the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, engaged in sponsorship in the State, shall not commence any sponsorship in the State without the prior approval of the Minister who shall, at the same time, determine the expenditure which such person may expend on such sponsorship during a specified period.

(4) Expenditure for the purposes of this article means the amount of money allocated to sponsorship annually without regard to any receipts accruing as a result of such sponsorship.

(5) A decision of the Minister in pursuance of the provisions of sub-article (1), (2) or (3) of this article shall be communicated in writing to the person concerned.

21. Subject to the provisions of article 22 sponsored events and activities shall be advertised only—

( a ) in newspapers, magazines or other similar publications, other than comics, comic supplements or any other publications directed primarily to persons under the age of eighteen years,

( b ) at the event or activity, and

( c ) internally in premises which are points of retail sale of tobacco products.

22. (1) An advertisement referred to in article 21 shall not contain anything other than the following:—

( a ) the name of the event or activity,

( b ) a description of the event or activity, and

( c ) the name of the sponsor.

(2) An advertisement referred to in article 21 which is published in newspapers, magazines or other similar publications shall not be part of or alongside a tobacco product advertisement.

23. An advertisement displayed at a sponsored event or activity other than those referred to in article 9 (2) (b), 9 (2) (c), 9 (2) (d), 9 (3), 9 (4) or 9 (5) shall not bear any reference to or representation of a brand of tobacco product.

24. A person shall not display a sponsor's name or emblem or the brand name or symbol of a tobacco product on the person or equipment of a participant in, or of any person assisting at, an event or activity.

SCHEDULE

Part 1

The statement required by articles 12 and 18 shall be in one of the following forms:—

Part 2

The statement required by article 12—

(i) shall be clear and legible,

(ii) shall appear on a contrasting ground,

(iii) shall occupy an area at the base of the advertisement which shall be clearly separate from the remainder of the advertisement and which shall not contain any other copy,

(iv) shall occupy an area of not less than 8% of the total area of the advertisement, and

(v) shall be printed in capitals of the following size:—

Part 3

The statement required by article 18—

(i) shall be clear and legible,

(ii) shall appear on a contrasting ground,

(iii) shall appear on one side of the package, which shall not be the base, and that side shall not contain any other copy, and

(iv) the words "Smokers die younger", "Cigarettes can cause cancer", or "Smoking seriously damages your health" shall be printed in 10 point capitals and the words "Royal College of Physicians of Ireland" or "Government Warning" shall be printed in 6 point capitals.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Health this 25th day

of October, 1979.

CHARLES J. HAUGHEY,

Minister for Health.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations control the promotion of tobacco products by means of advertising, sponsorship and certain other promotional activities.

In general the effect of the Regulations is

—to restrict the advertising media which may be used,

—to limit the content of advertisements,

—to require that certain advertisements for and packages of cigarettes shall bear one of the prescribed health warnings,

—to provide for the curtailment of expenditure on advertising and sponsorship,

—to limit the form which advertising associated with sponsored events may take,

—to prohibit the use of coupons, gifts, substantial cut-price offers and such like.

The major part of the Regulations becomes operative on 30th November 1979, the use of advertisements displayed other than at points of retail sale will cease from 31st January 1980, the content of advertisements will be restricted and a new health warning will be imposed as and from 30th May 1980 and from 28th November 1980 all advertising displayed outside retail premises will comply with the requirements as to size and content prescribed in the Regulations.