Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

Regulating Tobacco Products

  • Last modified date:
    22 April 2008
Image from the Age of sale for tobacco products campaign

This strand of the Government’s tobacco control programme concerns regulating tobacco products through the labelling of packaging, regulating contents and emissions of tobacco products, and controlling the sale of tobacco to young people under the mininum age.

Pack labelling and health warnings

The Tobacco Products (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale)(Safety) Regulations 2002 legislated for larger, hard-hitting health warnings on tobacco packs and these were introduced in 2003. The regulations also prohibited misleading terms such as low-tar, mild and light from tobacco packs. These regulations were required for the UK to comply with a 2001 European Directive on tobacco products and labelling. On 29 August 2007, we announced the introduction of picture warnings. They will start appearing on cigarette packs from the Autumn of 2008, and on other tobacco products from the end of 2009. The UK is the first country in the EU to require picture warnings on all tobacco products. The images were chosen from an EU photo library on the basis on market research and public consultation. Most people opted for the more shocking images. Research from Canada, where picture warnings have been required for several years, demonstrates that they are highly effective in encouraging people to quit smoking.

Product information and regulation

The regulations also set new requirements for the maximum yields of tar (10mg), carbon monoxide (10mg) and nicotine (1mg) in cigarettes. Manufacturers and importers of tobacco products also have to annually inform the Government of all the non-tobacco ingredients in each brand, along with relevant toxicological information.

Age of sale for tobacco products

Image from the Age of sale for tobacco products campaign

During summer 2006, the Government consulted on changing the minimum age of sale for tobacco and on tougher sanctions against retailers for breaking the law. Following this consultation, the age of sale for tobacco will be raised from 16 to 18 from 1 October 2007.

Legislation is currently before Parliament to introduce a system of negative licensing of tobacco retailers. If this legislation receives royal assent, tobacco retailers who repeatedly flout the law on age of sale of tobacco will be liable to orders prohibiting them from selling tobacco for periods of up to a year.

Links to the legislation

Access keys