. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/AUS/67 
8 April 2011  
 (11-1779) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  AUSTRALIA
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:   
Drug Strategy Branch 
Australian Government Depart ment of Health and Ageing 
GPO Box 9848 
CANBERRA ACT  2601 
Australia 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :   
TBT Enquiry Point  
Australian Government Department  of Foreign Affairs and Trade 
Canberra ACT 0221 Australia Tel.:   + 61 2 6261 1481 E-mail:  mailto:TBT.Enquiry@dfat.gov.au
 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Chapter 24 - products 
containing tobacco.  Packaging for retail sale of any product that contains tobacco, and is 
manufactured to be used for smoking, sucking, chewing or snuffing; and is not included on 
the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods maintained under the Therapeutic Goods Act 
1989; and/or the appearance of any such tobacco product. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Tobacco Plain 
Packaging Bill 2011 (94 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:  The Australian Government is cons ulting on draft legislation which 
will enable regulation of the appearance of t obacco products and packaging of those products.  
It is proposed that the legislation and subseque nt regulations would re strict advertising or 
promotion on packaging by:  
- limiting the information that may appear  on packaging to only a brand name and 
variant, along with health warnings and other government-mandat ed information or 
markings, in specified locations, without any symbols, logos or design features such G/TBT/N/AUS/67 
Page 2  
 
  -  as novel packaging material, decorative inks , ridges and embossing, foils or inside 
linings;  
- specifying the colour of packaging, and prescribing how allowed information may 
appear on packages, including the print colour, and font style and size of that information; and  
- prohibiting advertising or promotion insi de or attached to the package or on 
individual tobacco products. 
Regulations specific to cigarettes will require packs to appear in a form similar to the 
images appended to the Consultation Paper (indicat ed in 8). In particular, these regulations 
will: 
- require packs to be coloured a particular shade of dark olive brown, in a standard 
rectangular shape with a sta ndard flip-top opening; and 
- restrict the use of decorative elements on cigarette sticks themselves, including brand 
names, use of colour, bands and nov el filter designs and colours. 
The proposed design features for the plain p ackaging of other tobacco products are under 
development. Consultation will occur on these in the second half of 2011. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  As 
indicated in 6.  Regulation of the packaging and appearance of tobacco products is being 
implemented in order to: reduce the appeal of tobacco products to consumers; increase the 
effectiveness of health warnings on the packag ing of tobacco products; and reduce the ability 
of the packaging of tobacco products to misl ead consumers about the harmful effects of 
smoking. 
The legislation implements Australia's meas ure for the restricti on of advertising and 
promotion on tobacco products and their packag ing, consistent with Australia's obligations 
under Articles 5, 11 and 13 of the World He alth Organization Framework Convention on 
Tobacco Control. 
8. Relevant documents:    
- Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011, (94 pages, in English) 
- Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products Consulta tion Paper, (21 pages, in English)   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }1 January 2012, with provisions to enter into 
force progressively between 1 January and 
1 July 2012 
10. Final date for comments:  6 June 2011 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
Web:  " http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/your health/publishing.nsf/ Content/plainpack-
tobacco "