New warning labels required in Poland

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

A report from Scott Thompson in Poland:


New Warning Label Law Takes Effect in Poland

On Sunday, 14 June 1998, it became illegal to sell packs of cigarettes in
Poland that do not carry the warning labels described in the comprehensive
tobacco control legislation signed into law in January 1996. This applies to
cigarette producers, wholesalers and retailers. Violators risk a 25,000
zloty (approx. 7,000 USD) fine.

The labels must cover 30% of each of the two largest sides of a cigarette
pack, and read "TOBACCO SMOKING CAUSES CANCER" on one side and "TOBACCO
SMOKING CAUSES HEART DISEASE" on the other. (Please see and example at:
http://www.atm.com.pl/~canepid/law.html

This is the last provision of the legislation to take effect. The 30-month
delay was due to repeated efforts by the tobacco industry to have the
provision repealed on the grounds that it was far out of line with the EU
norms Poland is supposed to be moving towards. This argument failed to draw
much support beyond industry friends in Parliament and was almost completely
disregarded by the Solidarity-led coalition that won a majority of seats in
elections last autumn.

Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry in Poland has stopped lauding EU
norms since the May 13 European Parliament vote to ban advertising and
promotion. But the industry trade group, representing 12 producers from 7
countries, immediately initiated an information campaign to discredit ad
bans, without making any mention of the EU decision.

The new labels began to appear on the Polish market in April. But there was
considerable anxiety among cigarette sellers as the deadline neared and it
became clear that not all the old packs would be sold in time. Producers
whose poor planning (or perhaps expectation of yet another postponement)
left them with large quantities of un-sellable packages include Reemtsma,
Rothmans and BAT.

Desperate to sell their old stocks before the deadline, many retailers
drastically cut prices. Others are risking fines by continuing to sell
improperly labeled packs this week. Despite strong Health Ministry warnings
to the contrary, no merchants have yet been fined.

Illegal cigarette sales at greatly reduced prices were clearly not the goal
of this legislation. But the chaotic transition period will last only as
long as inventories do.

Always ready to make the best of a defeat, the tobacco industry was quick to
provide the press with new statistics showing how much the new labels will
hurt the Polish economy. According to Philip Morris, Marlboro sales along
the border with Germany have dropped nearly 50% since the new labels
appeared in late April. (Apparently German bargain hunters were intimidated
by the labels, even though they could not understand them, and thus returned
to their own more expensive but less frightening domestic smokes.) PM
calculates a corresponding loss in Polish tax revenues of roughly 1.7
million USD.

A year ago, while arguing for the repeal, the industry claimed that the
package label change would cost around 100 million USD. The same source now
says the cost was roughly 30 million Polish zloties, or well under 10% of
the prediction.

Let us hope that cigarette producers are also wrong by a factor of more than
ten in their prediction of the change in consumption levels as a result of
the ban. Malgorzata Kowalczyk of the industry trade group says the expected
decline this year is about 2 billion pieces. Unfortunately this is only a
marginal change in a market where more than 90 billion cigarettes were
consumed last year. We would be much happier if the drop were closer to 20
billion.

But that may take a few more years.

Scott Thompson
**************************************************************
Health Promotion Foundation and
Center for Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention
ul. W.K. Roentgena 5
02-781 Warsaw
POLAND
Tel./Fax: (+48 22) 643 92 34
http://www.atm.com.pl/~canepid