Tobacco Control Legislation

Regulation on Sale of Tobacco Products

  1. Parts III and IVA of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) requires that no person shall sell any cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco which contravenes the Ordinance.
  2. Regulation of Sales of Tobacco Products
    Part III of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance requires that no person shall sell any cigarettes unless they are in a packet of at least 20 sticks and the packet and retail container must bear a health warning, the tar and nicotine yields in the prescribed form and manner. Furthermore, no person shall sell any cigar, pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco unless the retail container bears a health warning in the prescribed form and manner.
  3. Sections 8A and 8B of Part III of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) also requires that
    1. no person shall sell or possess for the purposes of sale any cigarette containing an amount of tar exceeding 17 milligrams;
    2. no person shall sell any tobacco product from a vending machine.

Health Warning and Indication of Tar and Nicotine Yields on Cigarette Packet and Retail Container

  1. Section 8 of Part III of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) requires that cigarette packets and retail containers shall bear a health warning and tar and nicotine yields in the prescribed form and manner.
  2. A brief description of the specifications of pictorial and graphic contents of the health warning and indication of tar and nicotine yields on cigarette packet and retail container is as follows:
    1. For a container and a packet other than a specified packet with seal, the health warning must conform to either version A or version B of one of the prescribed forms. For a specified packet with seal, the health warning must conform to version C of one of the prescribed forms;
    2. The health warning must appear on the 2 largest surfaces of each packet and of each container. If a packet or container has more than 2 largest surfaces, the warning must appear on any 2 of those surfaces;
    3. Subject to paragraph 5a, the 2 surfaces must respectively bear the Chinese version and English version of version A, version B or version C of the same warning;
    4. Each form of health warning is rectangular in shape and surrounded by a black line as demarcation. The characters, letters and numbers are surrounded by either a black line or white line;
    5. Each Chinese or English version of the warning must cover at least 85% of the area of the surface on which it appears;
    6. The indication of tar and nicotine yields must be in either of the prescribed forms as follows, and must appear on a surface of each packet and of each retail container other than a surface bearing the health warning;
      Form 1

      Form 2
    7. The characters, letters and numbers of the indication of tar and nicotine yields are of a font size not less than 8 point, printed in white or black whichever colour contrasts more clearly with the colour of their background, and clearly visible;
    8. The health warning and indication of tar and nicotine yields appearing on a packet or retail container must not be obscured by any part of the lid of the packet or container when it is closed, an affixture to the packet or container, the wrapping of the packet or container, an affixture to that wrapping, or anything contained in that wrapping.

      Please refer to Hong Kong e-Legislation for details.

Health Warning on Retail Container of Cigar, Pipe Tobacco, or Cigarette Tobacco (Other Than Retail Container Containing One Cigar)

  1. Section 9 of Part III of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance requires that no person shall sell any cigar, pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco unless the retail container bears a health warning in the prescribed form and manner.
  2. A brief description of the specifications of pictorial and graphic contents of the health warning on retail container of cigar, pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco is as follows:
    1. The health warning must conform to either version A or version B of one of the prescribed forms;
    2. The health warning must appear on the 2 largest surfaces of each retail container. If a container has more than 2 largest surfaces, the warning must appear on any 2 of those surfaces;
    3. Each form of health warning is rectangular in shape and surrounded by a black line as demarcation. The characters, letters and numbers are surrounded by either a black line or white line;
    4. For a retail container of cigars, the Chinese version of the warning must appear on the largest surface on the front of the container, and must cover at least 70% of the area of that surface. The English version of the same warning must appear on the largest surface on the back of the container, and must cover 100% of the area of that surface;
    5. For a retail container of pipe tobacco or cigarette tobacco, the 2 surfaces bearing the warning must respectively bear the Chinese version and English version of version A or version B of the same warning, and each Chinese or English version of the warning must cover at least 85% of the area of the surface on which it appears;
    6. The health warning appearing on a retail container must not be obscured by any part of the lid of the container when it is closed, an affixture to the container, the wrapping of the container, an affixture to that wrapping, or anything contained in that wrapping.

      Please refer to Hong Kong e-Legislation for details.

Health Warning on Retail Container containing One Cigar

  1. Section 9 of Part III of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance requires that no person shall sell any cigar, pipe tobacco, or cigarette tobacco unless the retail container bears a health warning in the prescribed form and manner.
  2. A brief description of the specifications of pictorial and graphic contents of the health warning on retail container containing one cigar is as follows:
    1. The Chinese and English versions of the warning must appear on the largest surfaces of the container;
    2. Each form of warning is rectangular in shape and surrounded by a black line as demarcation. The width and the length are 7 cm and 3 cm respectively;
    3. The characters, letters and numbers are surrounded by either a black line or white line;
    4. The health warning appearing on a retail container must not be obscured by any part of the lid of the container when it is closed, an affixture to the container, the wrapping of the container, an affixture to that wrapping, or anything contained in that wrapping.
  3. Any person who contravenes any regulation from Item 2 to 9 above commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000.
  4. The Smoking (Public Health) (Prescribed Information) Order (Cap. 371B) ("the Order") comes into operation on 21 December 2017. A transitional period of 6 months is provided counting from the commencement date. During the period between 21 December 2017 and 20 June 2018, compliance with the requirements of either the previous or new specifications of the health warnings will be taken to be compliance with the Order. Starting from 21 June 2018, all tobacco products for sale in Hong Kong should only carry the new form of health warnings as set out in the Order.

    Please refer to Hong Kong e-Legislation for details.

Price Marker and Price Board of Tobacco Products

  1. Section 14 of Part IV of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) requires that when any person sells tobacco products and displays a price marker or price board for tobacco products at his/her premises, the price marker or price board shall comply with the following requirements of the Ordinance:
    1. Price marker for one type of tobacco product contains only the name and price of that type of tobacco product and is of a size not greater than the size of the price marker of any of the non-tobacco products sold in the premises and not greater than 50 square centimetres;
    2. There is only one price board for tobacco products at the premises. The price board lists only the names and prices of tobacco products and the size shall not be greater than 1,500 square centimetres. The size of the name and price of each type of tobacco product shall not be greater than 50 square centimetres. The price board shall bear a health warning in the prescribed form and manner.
  2. A brief description of the health warning on the price board is as follows:
    1. The health warning shall be of a size that covers not less than 20% of the area of the price board;
    2. The health warning shall be rectangular in shape and surrounded by a black line as demarcation and the background colour is white. The message shall include both Chinese and English versions and shall be printed in black colour;
    3. The English version of the health warning message includes HKSAR Government Health Warning and Smoking Kills;
    4. The words “HKSAR Government Warning” and related Chinese characters shall be printed in 30 points and in Univers Bold typeface, all capitals, and in 30 kyu and in “華康中黑體” typeface;
    5. The words “Smoking Kills” and related Chinese characters shall be printed in 90 points and in Univers Bold typeface, all capitals, and in 90 kyu and in “華康中黑體” typeface.
  3. As for cigar retailers, in the case of a shop in which nothing except cigars and cigar accessories are offered for sale, 3 sets of catalogues, each listing only the names and prices of the cigars offered for sale in the shop, can be placed.
  4. Any person who contravenes any of the above regulation commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further penalty of $1,500 for each day during which the offence continues.

    Prohibition on Selling or Giving of Tobacco Products

  5. Section 15A of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance requires that no person shall sell any tobacco product to any person under the age of 18 years and no person shall, for the purposes of promotion or advertisement, give any tobacco product to any person.
  6. The Ordinance also requires that any person offering for sale of tobacco products shall place in a prominent position at his premises a sign in English and Chinese to indicate that no tobacco product may be sold to any person under the age of 18 years or given to any person. The prescribed format of the sign shall
    1. be rectangular in shape with sides of at least 38 centimetres in length and 20 centimetres in width; and
    2. read in Chinese and English as follows: “BY ORDER OF HKSAR GOVERNMENT: NO TOBACCO PRODUCT SHALL BE SOLD TO PERSON UNDER 18 OR GIVEN FOR PROMOTION TO ANY PERSON”.
  7. Furthermore, the Ordinance also requires that
    1. no person shall sell, offer for sale or give a tobacco product to any person in exchange for a token;
    2. no person shall give to any person a tobacco product as a prize in any event or competition;
    3. no person shall give valuable consideration to any individual in order to induce him to buy a particular tobacco product or otherwise to promote to him that tobacco product;
    4. no person shall sell, offer for sale, or possess for the purposes of sale a tobacco product which includes or is accompanied by a gift;
    5. no person shall sell, offer for sale, or possess for the purposes of sale a tobacco product which includes or is accompanied by a token, stamp, or raffle ticket;
    6. no person shall sell, offer for sale, or possess for the purposes of sale a non-tobacco product which includes or is accompanied by a tobacco product as a gift;
    7. no person shall sell, offer for sale, or possess for the purposes of sale a tobacco product and a non-tobacco product as a single item;
    8. no person shall give to any person any object which contains the name or trade name of any person associated with the marketing of tobacco products, and which is intended to be shown in public; or
    9. no person shall give to any person any object which contains any trade mark or brand name of a tobacco product or any pictorial device or part thereof commonly associated therewith, and which is intended to be shown in public.
  8. Any person who contravenes any of the above regulation commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a maximum fine of $25,000.