The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on September 13, 2024, issued the Draft Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules, 2024 to further amend the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2024.
The following amendments have been stated:
• In Rule 11, a new Sub-Rule (1A) shall be inserted as under:
(1A) All films certified or not by CBFC, whether of Indian or foreign origin published in the online curated content platforms including, released on or after 1st September 2023 shall-
1. display anti-tobacco health spots, of minimum thirty seconds duration each at the beginning and middle of the film;
2. display anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of the tobacco products or their use in the film;
3. display an audio-visual disclaimer on the ill-effects of tobacco use, of minimum twenty seconds duration each, in the beginning of the film.
• In Rule 11, Sub-Rule (1) shall be substituted as under:
All content published in the online curated content platforms, shall-
1. display non-skippable anti-tobacco health spots, of minimum thirty seconds duration and non-skippable audio-visual disclaimer on the ill-effects of tobacco use, of minimum twenty seconds upon opening the platforms of the Publishers of the online curated contents.
2. display of anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of the tobacco products or their use in the programme on all content whether of Indian or foreign origin released on or after 1st September 2023.
3. To give adequate time to all online curated content platforms to make adequate changes in their software for implementing the provisions i.e. Rule 1 & 2 above, the provisions in these rules will come into effect 6 months after the publications of these rules in the official gazette.
[Notification No. G.S.R. 572(E)]
