From tomorrow all tobacco products, including cigarettes packages, entering Oman and other GCC borders, will bear mandatory pictorial warnings about the harmful impact of tobacco on human health. The decision, issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on March 18, 2012, comes into effect from August 9 and will be simultaneously applied by other GCC members states.
With the decision, all tobacco packs, regardless of the kind of tobacco, have to display health warnings and images on both front and back side of the packet, covering not less than 50 per cent of the bottom area. While the front side will display instructions in Arabic, the other side will display in English. As of February 2012, over 45 countries have passed legislation requiring pictorial health warnings. Several shops visited by Muscat Daily showed that vendors are yet to display the products with new packaging.
According to Saleh al Zadjali, director of specification, MoCI, this is because the vendors have been given a grace period to sell off their old stock. ''But all imports will have to follow the changed rules from August 9, for which all the dealers have been informed well in advance.'' Speaking about the impact of the new rules Dr Zahir al Anqoudi, head of non communicable disease control at the Directorate General of Health Services in Dakhliyah and the senior superintendent at Tobacco Cessation Clinic, Nizwa, said it will help tremendously in discouraging beginners.
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