Agencies

New Delhi, July 19: The Centre has notified the rules making it mandatory to carry pictorial health warning signs on all packs of tobacco products.

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packing and Labelling) Rules 2006 will come into effect from February 1, 2007 to give the traders and industrialists the time to make the necessary changes in trade practices.

Every package shall contain the health warning as specified in the Schedule to these rules.

It comprises a sign of skull and bones, a warning 'tobacco kills / smoking kills', a pictorial representation of the adverse effects of tobacco and health message.

Section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (Prohibition of Advertising and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003, provides for stringent penalty for non-compliance.

Any manufacturer who fails to carry the specified warning shall on first conviction be imprisoned for a term, which may extend to two years, or be punished with fine which may extend to Rs. 5,000 or with both.

For the second or subsequent convictions, the punishment shall be imprisonment up to five years and a fine of up to Rs. 10,000.

Even the person who sells or distributes the products without the specified warning is liable to punishment — with imprisonment which may extend to one year, or with fine up to Rs. 1,000, or with both.