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Kristen Cheung

All logos, colourful designs and branding will be stripped from cigarette packs in Hong Kong under new rules that take effect in March next year as part of a fresh push to reduce smoking rates.
The Department of Health announced on Thursday that subsidiary legislation would require all retail packs of cigarettes, long cigarette boxes and specified cigars to drop brand logos and advertising elements.
Only brand and variant names in a prescribed font will be permitted, printed in standardised plain brown on the pack. Manufacturers will have until December next year to ensure their products meet the new rules.
Dr Manny Lam Man-chung, head of the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office, said the measure would reduce the appeal of tobacco products, citing a 2023 Chinese University of Hong Kong study in which 79.8 per cent of smokers surveyed said plain packaging made cigarettes less attractive.
“The measure will weaken brand effects, stop consumers underestimating health risks and make the graphic health warnings more prominent and effective,” he said.
Lam said 27 countries and regions, including Australia, Canada and France, had adopted standardised packaging.
An Australian study found attempts to quit rose from 20.2 per cent to 26.6 per cent within a year after standard packaging was introduced in 2012.
“We believe Hong Kong will achieve similar deterrent effects, though smoking reduction is driven by other measures as well,” he said.
The rules will take effect on March 1, 2027, with full enforcement beginning on December 1, 2027 after the nine-month transition.
The new regulation under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance were tabled in the Legislative Council on Wednesday and will be gazetted on Friday.
The government will also replace the 12 graphic health warnings depicting smoking-related diseases and their impact on daily life, in use since 2018, following World Health Organization advice that warning content be rotated regularly to maintain its long-term deterrent effect.
Cigarette packs sold in Hong Kong currently carry one of 12 government-designated health warning images covering at least 85 per cent of the packaging.
Tar and nicotine content labelling will be removed from packs and cartons, to prevent smokers from wrongly believing that products with lower levels are less harmful, reducing their motivation to quit.
A duty-paid cigarette label system will be introduced at the same time.

Every pack must carry a label with physical and digital anti-counterfeit features so that duty-paid products can be distinguished from illicit ones.
Anyone who breaches the standardised packaging requirements faces a maximum fine of HK$50,000 (US$6,375) upon summary conviction.
Henry Tong Sau-chai, chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, said the council fully supported the law, believing it could effectively deter teenagers from being attracted by colourful displays and promotional slogans.
“Our council always targets youth smoking prevention, and we often see at retail outlets that the packages are colourful with slogans like ‘fresh experience’ and ‘new legend’, which appeal to teenagers,” he said.
Hong Kong ramped up its anti-smoking measures earlier this year, doubling the fixed penalty for smoking in no-smoking areas from HK$1,500 to HK$3,000 in January, and extending the ban to public transport queues and areas within three metres (9.8 feet) of specified entrances and exits.
It is now illegal for individuals to possess vapes and heated tobacco products.
Hong Kong’s smoking rate fell to 8.5 per cent last year, missing an ambitious target of 7.8 per cent, but down from 9.1 per cent in 2023.


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Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Only brand and variant names in prescribed font will be permitted, printed in standardised plain brown on packs under changes to existing law


Only brand and variant names in prescribed font will be permitted, printed in standardised plain brown on packs under changes to existing law.


Smoking and vaping

Hong Kong society

China

Australia

Hong Kong to strip logos and branding from cigarette packs starting in March

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Only brand and variant names in prescribed font will be permitted, printed in standardised plain brown on packs under changes to existing law

Only brand and variant names in prescribed font will be permitted, printed in standardised plain brown on packs under changes to existing law