Plain tobacco packaging Health, Dame Tariana Turia) approved plain packaging in principle, a move that tobacco companies said they would strenuously oppose. From July to October 2012 the Ministry of Health undertook a consultation which attracted over 20,000 submissions (including overseas submissions) from public health groups and also the tobacco industry. In February 2013 Government decided to proceed with legislative change in alignment with Australia. A Bill to require the plain packaging of tobacco products – the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill – was introduced on 17 December 2013. The Bill had its first reading on 11 February 2014. It was
Plain tobacco packaging part of their campaign on the 2016 World No Tobacco Day and urged then-presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte to implement a law to standardize cigarette packs. The Department of Health (DOH), however, is not ready to implement plain cigarette packaging, and rather focus on enforcing graphic health warnings on cigarette packs under the Graphic Health Warning Act of 2014 that took effect in March 2016. On the 15 February 2017, the Parliament of Slovenia passed a law for the introduction of plain packaging from 2020. On 5 December 2014, Swiss parliamentarian Pierre-Alain Fridez tabled a motion for plain packaging in Switzerland.