Ahead of the changes to the national tobacco laws that come into effect on 1 July 2025, the Australian federal health department has released guidance information for retailers and consumers explaining the changes and the new responsibilities for retailers of tobacco products.
New laws and transition
New laws came into effect on 1 April 2024 that have altered the legal requirements for tobacco products and packaging. There has been a transition period that allowed for the rundown of old stock and the roll out of new (compliant) stock. This transition period is coming to an end, with the full force of the law to apply from 1 July 2025.
From 1 July 2025, all tobacco products sold, offered for sale and supplied in Australia must comply with the new tobacco laws.
The new legislation is the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023 and the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Regulations 2024. These can be accessed at health.gov.au/tobacco-legislation.
Other new legal requirements also apply, including on advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. Separate guidance on these requirements is available at health.gov.au/tobacco-control.
What is changing?
The new laws require the removal of certain terms from product names and descriptions (such as smooth or gold) as well as consistent shape, filter, pack size and number of all products. This removes some of the more obvious differentiation points between products and brands.
In addition the new laws have banned certain ingredients and flavours.
The changes apply to all tobacco containing products including; cigarettes, roll your own tobacco, pipe tobacco, shish that contains tobacco, cigars.
Retailer Responsibilities
“ACAPMA reminds members that as tobacco retailers it is imperative that they understand these restrictions and changes in detail and review all onsite stock to ensure that it is compliant with the new requriements, and return to the manufacturer any old non-compliant stock before the 1 July deadline”, explains ACAPMAs Elisha Radwanowski.
“In addition retailers should ensure that staff are informed about the changes and armed with the information they need to communicate to customers in order to minimise confusion and aggression”, continues Elisha.
Guides
To assist Retailers in complying with the requriements, and communicating them to customers, the federal Health Department has released two Guides;
These Guides include general information, frequently asked questions and instructions on how to report non compliant tobacco products.
ACAPMA
