Plain tobacco packaging void of brand logos. Eventually, all cigarette and tobacco products are to be sold in uniform packs from 20 May 2019. As of July 2017, the first cigarettes with unified plain packaging hit the Hungarian market. From 20 August 2016 onwards, new brands have to be sold in plain packaging, one new cigarette brand of Von Eicken GmbH was forced to be launched with such unified package. This makes Hungary the fourth country in the world, where plain packaging is enforced; after Australia, France and the UK. As of August 2012, India is believed to be considering plain packaging. BJD
Plain tobacco packaging (WHO FCTC). On 31 May 2016, on World No Tobacco Day, the WHO called on governments to get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products. Plain packaging appears to have been first suggested in 1989 by the New Zealand Department of Health’s Toxic Substances Board which recommended that cigarettes be sold only in white packs with black text and no colours or logos. Public health officials in Canada developed proposals for plain packaging of tobacco products in 1994. A parliamentary committee reviewed the evidence and concluded that plain packaging could be a “reasonable step in the overall strategy to reduce