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15 May 2001
MEPs back tough tobacco rules The European Parliament has cleared new wide-ranging legislation on the content and labelling of cigarettes and other tobacco products, including bigger health warnings. When the new rules start to come into effect in September 2002, health warnings will have to cover 30 per cent of the front of a cigarette packet and 40 per cent of the back. From the end of 2002 there will also be the possibility to use colour pictures showing the harmful effects of smoking. Misleading descriptions such as "light", "low tar", or "mild" will be banned from September 2003. From the start of 2004, the new rules will cut tar content from 12mg to 10mg per cigarette and set limits of 1mg nicotine and 10mg carbon monoxide per cigarette. Manufacturers will have until 2007 to stop the export of higher tar cigarettes. The new legislation which was agreed after lengthy talks between MEPs and EU governments has now passed its final hurdle with today's vote of approval by the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The Council of Ministers, representing EU governments, agreed the legislation yesterday.
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