2012 No. 244
Public Health

The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Specialist Tobacconists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

Made
Coming into operation
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety1, makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 6(A1), 7B(3) and 19(2) of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 20022.

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Specialist Tobacconists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 and shall come into operation on 6th April 2015.

(2)

In these Regulations “the Act” means the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002.

(3)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19543 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Advertising in specialist tobacconists2.

(1)

No offence is committed under section 2 of the Act (prohibition of tobacco advertising) if a tobacco advertisement—

(a)

is in a specialist tobacconist4;

(b)

is not for cigarettes or hand-rolling tobacco; and

(c)

complies with the requirements specified in the following paragraphs.

(2)

A tobacco advertisement must not be visible from outside of the premises of the specialist tobacconist.

(3)

Each advertisement must include an area (“the information area”) in which are displayed—

(a)

a health warning as specified in paragraph (4); and

(b)

the following information–

““The Smoker’s Helpline 0808 812 8008””.

(4)

The health warning must state—

(a)

in a case where half or more of the area of an advertisement other than the information area (“the advertisement area”) is used to advertise tobacco products which are intended to be smoked–

““Smoking kills”; or

“Smoking seriously harms you and others around you””; and

(b)

in any other case–

““Tobacco products can seriously damage your health and are addictive””.

(5)

The information area under paragraph (3) must be -

(a)

in a case where the total area of the advertisement exceeds 75 square centimetres, at least 22.5 square centimetres; and

(b)

in any other case, not less than 30% of the total area of the advertisement;

and, for the purposes of this paragraph, the total area of the advertisement means the advertisement area and the information area.

(6)

The health warning and health information which are required to be displayed under paragraph (3) must be—

(a)

indelible;

(b)

legible;

(c)

printed in black Helvetica bold type on a white background;

(d)

in a font size consistent throughout the text which ensures that the text occupies the greatest possible proportion of the information area;

(e)

in upper case and lower case type as used in the health information in paragraph (3) or, as the case may be, in the health warning in question in paragraph (4);

(f)

centred in the area in which the text is required to be printed;

(g)

displayed parallel to the floor;

(h)

surrounded by a black border outside the information area, which shall be not less than 3 millimetres and not more than 4 millimetres in width, which does not interfere with the text of the warning or information; and

(i)

irremovably printed on the advertisement or affixed to the advertisement by means of an irremovable sticker.

Display of tobacco products in specialists tobacconists3.

No offence is committed under section 7A(1)5 of the Act (prohibition of tobacco displays) by a display of tobacco products if the display is—

(a)

in a specialist tobacconist; and

(b)

not visible from outside of the premises of the specialist tobacconist.

Revocations4.

The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Specialist Tobacconists) Regulations 20046 are revoked in so far as they apply to Northern Ireland.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety on 20th June 2012.

Dr Elizabeth Mitchell
A senior officer of the
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for exemptions in relation to specialist tobacconists from the prohibition of tobacco advertisements imposed by section 2 of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 (“the Act”) and the prohibition of tobacco displays imposed by section 7A of the Act. Specialist tobacconists are shops that sell tobacco products by retail more than half of whose sales derive from the sale of cigars, snuff, pipe tobacco and smoking accessories (see section 6(2) of the Act).

Regulation 2 allows the publication of advertisements for tobacco products, other than cigarettes or hand-rolling tobacco, in specialist tobacconists provided that the advertisement is not visible from outside of the premises, and contains the required health warning and health information, in the required form.

Regulation 3 allows the display of tobacco products, including cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, in specialist tobacconists if the tobacco products are not visible from outside of the premises.

The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Specialist Tobacconists) Regulations 2004 are revoked by regulation 4 in so far as they apply to Northern Ireland.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and other sectors of the economy is available from Health Improvement Policy Branch, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Room C4.22, Castle Buildings, Stormont Estate, Belfast, BT4 3SQ. It is also available to download at www.dhsspsni.gov.uk.