TRADE PRACTICES (CONSUMER PRODUCT INFORMATION STANDARDS) (TOBACCO) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 408

TRADE PRACTICES (CONSUMER PRODUCT INFORMATION STANDARDS) (TOBACCO) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 408

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 408

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Consumer Affairs

Trade Practices Act 1974

Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations (Amendment)

LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS

Section 172 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Subsection 65D(1) of the Act provides that a corporation shall not, in trade or commerce, supply goods that are intended to be used, or are of a kind likely to be used, by a consumer, being goods of a kind in respect of which a consumer product information standard has been prescribed, unless the corporation has complied with that standard in relation to those goods.

Subsection 65D(2) of the Act provides that a regulation may, in respect of goods of a particular kind, prescribe a consumer product information standard consisting of such requirements as to:

(a)       the disclosure of information relating to the performance, composition, contents, methods of manufacture or processing, design, construction, finish or packaging of the goods; and

(b)       the form and manner in which that information is to be disclosed on or with the goods;

as are reasonably necessary to give persons using the goods information as to the quantity, quality, nature or value of the goods.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations (the parent regulations) dated 29 March 1994 and notified in the Gazette on 31 March 1994.

The parent regulations give consumers information about the damaging effects of smoking on health.

On two occasions (April 1992 and July 1993) the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy (MCDS) agreed that substantial changes should be made to health warnings on tobacco products to provide more detailed information to consumers about the effects of smoking.

On 6 October 1993, Federal Cabinet agreed to introduce new national labelling requirements for tobacco products under the Trade Practices Act 1974. The Cabinet decision reflects the. agreement made by the MCDS.

Under the parent regulations the new detailed health warnings do not take effect until 1 January 1995. To ensure a uniform national labelling system was in effect at all times before 1 January 1995, the parent regulations require that the existing health warning system be applied to tobacco products manufactured in or imported into Australia on or after 1 April 1994 and before 1 January 1995.

The amendments to the parent regulations are intended to allow the existing labelling arrangements to apply to imported tobacco products for a further six months. This is necessary because:

-       imported tobacco products are characterised by their enormous variation in types, specifications, methods of packaging and their small production runs. For example, some 450 different kinds of cigars are sold on the Australian market from manufacturers around the world; and

-       in many cases, the packaging of imported products, involving international contracts for manufacture, distribution and sale is made months in advance.

An additional purpose of the amendments is to clarify a number of other provisions in the parent regulations. Details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1.1 is a formal provision providing that the Regulations amend the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations (the parent regulations).

Regulation 2.1 omits regulation 2 and substitutes a regulation which specifies the goods to which Parts 2 and 3 of the parent regulations apply, in particular, providing for Part 2 to apply to imported tobacco for six months longer than tobacco manufactured in Australia.

Regulation 3.1 omits the heading to Part 2 and substitutes a heading which reflects the changes made by regulation 2.1.

Regulation 4.1 omits the heading to Part 3 and substitutes a heading which reflects the changes made by regulation 2.1.

Regulation 5.1 omits the definition of "irregular package" in subregulation 6(1).

Regulation 5.2 omits the definition of "pouch" in subregulation 6(1) and substitutes a definition which corrects an error of sentence construction.

Regulation 5.3 omits subregulation 6(3) and substitutes a subregulation that is more clearly expressed.

Regulations 5.4, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 are made to reflect the changes made by regulation 5.1. They have the effect of removing all references to "an irregular package" from the parent regulations 6(5), 8(1), 8(2), 17(2)(a), 17(20), 17(4) and 17(6)(b)(iv), and replace such references, where necessary, with references to items 8 and 9 of Schedule 2, which are more clearly expressed.

Regulation 7.1 omits regulations 10 and 11 and substitutes regulations which are more clearly expressed, reflect the changes made by regulation 5.1 and adequately cover round and cylindrical retail packages.

Regulation 9.1 omits item 3 from Schedule 2 and substitutes an item that is more clearly expressed and covers cartons.

Regulation 9.2 adds items 8 and 9 to Schedule 2 reflecting changes made by regulation 5.1. Items 8 and 9 provide definitions for certain kinds of retail packages.