The UN in Georgia maintains that the draft laws initiated in the Georgian Parliament on October 16, 2023 is damaging to public health. The proposed changes seek to exclude heated tobacco products from standardized packaging regulations, extend the sale of tobacco products with old packaging for another eight months, and modify the requirement to display brand and variant information in the state language of Georgia, by allowing also display in English.

Protecting public health and effective tobacco control policy are paramount. Governments must act to protect public health policies from tobacco industry interference as per Art. 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Allowing these changes would prioritize the financial interests of tobacco companies over the interest of public health.

Almost one-third of adults and a substantial portion of adolescents and young people in Georgia are using tobacco. Tobacco-related direct healthcare costs and indirect costs due to premature mortality and disability and workplace costs exceed 800 million GEL annually, with the number of deaths surpassing 11,000[1]. Addressing this situation necessitates long-term and steadfast implementation of comprehensive and effective tobacco control policies. Georgia took a positive step with the adoption of strong tobacco control legislation in 2017, which yielded initial results through effective implementation. However, to achieve a sustained reduction in tobacco use rates and mitigate its catastrophic impact, full implementation and further strengthening of tobacco control legislation and state policies are required.

Standardized packaging regulations under the new tobacco control legislation were originally intended to take effect on January 1, 2018, then unfortunately postponed to December 31, 2022, and subsequently extended once more to July 1, 2024. This delay and other proposed changes are unjustifiable and further delays the demonstrable benefits that plain packaging provides.

As of today, many countries in Europe and globally have demonstrated that plain packaging is an effective tobacco control measure. It reduces the appeal of tobacco products, enhances the impact of health warnings, diminishes consumer deception, and ultimately reduces tobacco consumption rates.

We urge the Parliament of Georgia to reject the proposed changes and we hope that it will continue the policy announced at the highest level in the field of health protection and tobacco control, protect the legislation from the interests of the tobacco industry, including the implementation of standardized packaging of tobacco products.