SL must comply with WHO tobacco-control convention: AG

The Attorney General informed the Court of Appeal yesterday that Sri Lanka was bound to comply with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) tobacco-control convention which was ratified by the Government in 2005 and introduce pictorial warnings on cigarette pack- ets. Deputy Solicitor General Janak de Silva, appearing for the Health Minister and the Health Ministry, made these

observations in response to the oral arguments by the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) which filed an application against the Health Ministry’s move to have pictorial health warnings displayed on cigarette packets. He said more than 160 countries had already signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and thus agreed to become a party to the convention.

“The FCTC is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health,” DSG de Silva said.

When the case was taken up for hearing by Justices Anil Goonaratne and Malini Gunaratne, the DSG said annually six million people died worldwide because of the harmful effects of tobacco. He said the convention was an agreement by many to ensure better health conditions for their citizens when implementing tobacco-control policies.

The DSG said the convention states that every person should be informed of the harmful effects of tobacco products and on that basis the pictorial warnings on the cigarette packets would give an effective message.

A picture speaks a thousand words. Children are impressed by pictures. Irrespective of whether people can or can’t read, the pictorial warnings will deliver an effective message that every person know of the harmful effects of tobacco use

“A picture speaks a thousand words. Children are highly impressed by pictures. Irrespective of whether people can read or cannot read, the pictorial warnings will deliver an effective message on the need for every person to be informed of the harmful effects of tobacco use. Scientific evidence has proved that pictures are more likely to be noticed,” he said

Meanwhile, President’s Counsel Ali Sabri with President’s Counsel Faiz Mustapha appearing for CTC argued that their client’s rights guaranteed under the Intellectual Property Act might be violated if the regulation was implemented by restricting the space taken to display the company’s trademark. They argued that the legal rights to carry the trademark might be suppressed if this regulation was implemented. In this case, CTC had filled a petition before the Court of Appeal challenging the Tobacco Products (Labelling and Packaging) Regulations No. 01 of 2012 published by the Minister of Health in the Government Gazette Extraordinary No 1770/15 dated August 8, 2012.

The Supreme Court issued an Interim Order on the Ministry of Health staying the implementation of pictorial warnings.

The regulations, gazetted in August says, “No packet, package, carton or label of any tobacco product shall contain any message which is “false, misleading or deceptive concerning the effects or hazards on health from the use of any tobacco product or from any emission arising out of the use of any tobacco product”.