CANADA: TOBACCO PRODUCTS The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6. G/TBT/Notif. 96.9. 1. Member to Agreement notifying: Canada. If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2): 2. Agency responsible: Health Canada. 3. Notified under Article 2.9.2. 4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Tobacco products. 5. Title and number of pages of the notified document: Proposed Amendments to the Tobacco Products Control Regulations. 6. Description of content: On 21 September 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that many sections of the Tobacco Products Control Act infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom and invalidated these. As described in the document ``Tobacco Control: A Blueprint to Protect Health of Canadians'', the Minister of Health intends to put forward legislative measures to fill the void resulting from the ruling. The first of these measures is to reinstate the requirements for health messages and toxic constituent information on tobacco products packaging. The ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada indicates that the Government is justified in requiring tobacco manufacturers to place health messages on the tobacco products packaging. However, because one cannot be obliged to say something he/she does not want under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, the government could not require that these messages be unattributed. The health messages and the toxic constituent information is considered to be a key element of the Federal Government's strategy to reduce tobacco consumption among Canadians. Consequently, once the Act is amended to reinstate the requirements for health messages and toxic constituent information, including provisions for attribution of the health messages, the Tobacco Products Control Regulations need to be amended to specify the content and location of the attribution on the packages of tobacco products. No changes are proposed to the current requirements regarding the content, position, configuration, size and prominence of the health messages other than the addition of the attribution to Health Canada. Attached are the proposed amendments to the Regulations to put in effect these provisions. The size and location of the attribution are specified for different types of tobacco products. Minor modifications to the Regulations are also proposed to correct inconsistencies and to repeal outdated provisions. 7. Objective and rationale: Protection of health. 8. Relevant documents: Health Protection Branch Information Letter No. 817, 12 December 1995. 9. Proposed date of adoption and entry into force: Not stated. 10. Final date for comments: 30 March 1996. (039)

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