SL cigarette manufacturer in final appeal over compulsory labelling
View(s):Ceylon Tobacco Co (CTC), Sri Lanka’s monopoly cigarette manufacturer, won a slight reprieve in the Supreme Court against a lower court decision pertaining to compulsory labelling of health warnings on packs.
The government assured the court at a February 28 hearing that the labelling regulations, due to be effective on March 1, would be put off till March 28
- till the appeal is concluded.
The court also directed CTC and the government to reach a mutually satisfactory solution if possible, with one option being suggested by court to reduce the size of the health warnings. On February 22 the Appeal Court refused a CTC application for an interm order to stay new Ministry of Health regulations on labelling. The labelling, which covers some 80 per cent of the cigarette pack, shows pictures of various diseases caused by cigarette smoking and warns users against smoking. Such labelling is common across the world particularly in Europe.
The CTC Supreme Court appeal was filed on the same day it lost the lower court request.
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