Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 8, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:“Amendment of section 6 of Act of 2015

12. Section 6 of the Act of 2015 is amended--

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (3), this Act” for “This Act”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(3) A specified provision of this Act shall not apply to the sale of tobacco products manufactured or released for circulation before the date of commencement of that provision, until the first anniversary of that date, provided that on the date of their sale those tobacco products comply with the European Union (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 271 of 2016).

(4) In subsection (3), “specified provision of this Act” means any of the following provisions of this Act:

(a) subsections (1) to (5) and (7) to (12) of section 7;

(b) section 8;

(c) subsections (1) to (5) and (7) to (12) of section 9;

(d) section 10;

(e) section 11;

(f) section 14.”.”.

As indicated on Committee Stage, I proposed to bring an amendment forward today to the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. This amendment is to Part 5 of the Bill and proposes to insert a new section 12. The amendment seeks to amend section 6 of the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Act 2015. The section deals with transitional provisions. New transitional times are now required given the significant period of time which has elapsed since the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was initiated in January 2016. The original timeframe for the manufacture of the new standardised packaging from 20 May 2016 has now passed. I assure Deputies that while this means that the introduction of standardised packaging has been delayed somewhat the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I remain committed to ensuring that this important public health measure is introduced as soon as is practical.

The amendment proposes the insertion of new subsections (3) and (4) into section 6 of the Act of 2015. Section 6(3) states that specified provisions in the 2015 Act shall not apply to the sale of tobacco products which were manufactured before the date of commencement of that specified provision. Such products are permitted to be on sale for a 12-month period. Section 6(4) lists the relevant provisions of the Act of 2015.

The specified provisions mentioned in the amendment are the requirements of standardised packaging. The ban on the use of logos and trademarks, the use of a prescribed colour and the requirements for the appearance of cigarettes are some examples of the requirements. What the amendment means in practice is that once the specified provisions are commenced, all tobacco products manufactured from that commencement date must comply with the standardised packaging requirements. This date will be set taking into consideration the time it takes for the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill to complete it legislative journey and the notification of the technical requirements to industry for preparation. Tobacco products manufactured before that commencement date will be permitted to be sold for a period of 12 months. That is in line with the 12-month wash-through period set out in the original Act. I commend the amendment to the House.

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