Cigarette packets in Australia (20 May 2019). As a result of the enactment of the December 2015 plain tobacco packaging bill, on 1 January 2017 France became the second country in the world, after Australia, and the first in the European Union to require tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging. In March 2015, the House of Commons voted 367–113 in favour of plain cigarette packaging in the United Kingdom. The sale of plain packs is compulsory since 21 May 2017. For cigarette packets, warnings include: With each warning is an accompanying graphic, and detailed information on the back of the packet. In
Plain tobacco packaging in EU countries in May 2016, the option for the Member States to introduce plain packaging. Legal scholars consider plain packaging to be consistent with primary European law and German law. The directive adopted April 3, 2014 explicitly states that 28 EU countries have the option of implementing plain packaging, a provision upheld on May 4, 2016 by the European Court of Justice as valid when dismissing a tobacco industry legal challenge. In December 2010, a UMP member of the French Parliament tabled a Member's Bill aimed at creating plain cigarette packaging. However, the bill did not pass despite ongoing