Sultanate of Oman adopts plain packaging for tobacco products

The World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated the sultanate on the rollout of this landmark measure. Oman thus becomes the second country in the Arabian Peninsula to adopt plain packaging, after Saudi Arabia.

The Sultanate of Oman, which had 7.7% of smokers – mainly men – including 6.5% of daily smokers in 2017[1], intends to reduce this smoking prevalence by 30% by 2025[2]It is in this spirit, and in particular to dissuade young people from starting to smoke, that this country has just introduced standardized plain packaging for tobacco products.

The measure was enacted on February 14, 2023, by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment Promotion, based on a proposal from the Ministry of Health and the National Committee for Tobacco Control. It must be implemented within six months. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Office welcomed the adoption of this measure. "important and pioneering", Oman being, after Saudi Arabia, the second country in the region to implement it.

A measure promoted by the CCLAT

The Sultanate of Oman is thus in line with two fundamental articles of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (CCLAT), which it ratified in 2005: Article 11 of the FCTC, which expressly concerns the packaging and labelling (information, health warnings) to be affixed to tobacco products, and Article 13 relating to the prohibition of advertising and promotion. The implementing directives for these two articles explicitly include the introduction of this measure. Scientific studies highlight that plain packaging also strengthens other provisions of the treaty by better highlighting information on the toxicity of products, by preventing young people from starting to smoke and by contributing to quitting smoking.

The WHO has published a comprehensive guide on the subject with advice on how to implement this measure.[3]Since this measure was implemented in Australia in 2012, 19 other countries[4] have it adopted and several others are considering it or prepare it[5].

Keywords: Oman, plain packaging, CCLAT, MPOWER.

©Generation Without Tobacco

MF

[1] WHO, FCTC report 2020, Oman.

[2] Oman adopts plain packaging for tobacco products, Muscat Daily, published March 11, 2023, accessed March 14, 2023.

[3] WHO, Plain packaging of tobacco products: evidence, design and implementation, 2016, 44 p.

[4] In chronological order: Australia, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland, Thailand, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Singapore, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Myanmar.

[5] FCTC, Tobacco Plain Packaging, Global status 2021 update, WHO, 2022, 54 p.