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Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
Twelfth Congress
Third Regular Session
Begun held in Metro
Manila on Monday, the twenty-second day of July, two thousand two.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9211
AN ACT REGULATING THE PACKAGING, USE, SALE DISTRIBUTION AND
ADVERTISEMENTS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
.
Be it
enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled.
Section 1.
Short Title
- This Act shall be known as the "Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003."
Section 2.
Policy
- it is the policy of the State to protect the populace from
hazardous products and promote the right to health and instill
health consciousness among them. It is also the policy of the State,
consistent with the Constitutional ideal to promote the general
welfare, to safeguard the Interests of the workers and other
stakeholders in the tobacco industry. For these purposes, the
government shall institute a balanced policy whereby the use, sale,
and advertisements of tobacco products shall be regulated in order
to promote a healthful environment and protect the citizens from the
hazards of tobacco smoke, and at the same time ensure that the
interest of tobacco farmers, growers, workers and stakeholders are
not adversely compromised.
Section 3.
Purpose
- It is the main thrust of this Act to:
a. Promote a healthful environment;
b.
Inform the public of the health risks associated with cigarette
smoking and tobacco use;
c.
Regulate and subsequently ban all tobacco advertisements and
sponsorships;
d.
Regulate the labeling of tobacco products;
e.
Protect the youth from being initiated to cigarette smoking and
tobacco use by prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors;
f.
Assists and encourage Filipino tobacco farmers to cultivate
alternative agricultural crops to prevent economic dislocation; and
g.
Create an Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-Tobacco) to
oversee the implementation of the provision of this Act.
Section 4.
Definition of Terms - As used in this Act:
a. "Advertisement"
- refers to any visual and/or audible message disseminated to the
public about or on a particular product that promote and give
publicity by words, designs, images or any other means through
broadcasts, electronic, print or whatever form of mass media,
including outdoor advertisements, such as but no limited to signs
and billboards. For the purpose of this Act, advertisement shall be
understood as tobacco advertisement.
b.
"Advertising"
- refers to the business of conceptualizing, presenting, making
available and communicating to the public, through any form of mass
media, any fact, data or information about the attributes, features,
quality or availability of consumers products, services or credit.
For the purpose of this Act, advertising shall be understood as
tobacco advertising. This shall specifically refer to any messages
and images promoting smoking; the purchase or use of cigarette or
tobacco trademarks brand names, design and manufacturer's names;
c.
"Advertiser"
- refers to a person or entity on whose account of for whom an
advertisement is prepared and disseminated by the advertising
agency, which is service established and operated for the purpose of
counseling or creating and producing and/or implementing advertising
program in various forms of media;
d.
"Cigarette"
- refers to any roll or tubular construction, which contains tobacco
or its derivatives and is intended to be burned or heated under
ordinary conditions of use;
e. "Distributor"
- refers to any person to whom a tobacco product is delivered or
sold for purposes of distribution in commerce, except that such
terms does not include a manufacturer or retailer or common carrier
of such product;
f. "Mass
Media" -
refers to any medium of communication designed to reach a mass of
people. For this purposes, mass media includes print media such as,
but not limited to, newspapers, magazines, and publications;
broadcast media such as, but not limited to, radio, television,
cable television, and cinema; electronic media such as but not
limited to the internet;
g. "Minor"
- refers to any person below eighteen (18) years old;
h. "Manufacturer"
- refers to any person entity, including a re-packer, who makes,
fabricates, assembles, processes, or labels a finished product;
i. "Package"
- refers to pack, boxes, cartons or containers of any kind in which
any tobacco product is offered for sale to consumers;
j. "Person"
- refers to an individual, partnership, corporation or any other
business or legal entity;
k. "Point-of-sale"
- refers to any location at which an individual can purchase or
otherwise obtain tobacco products;
l. "Promotions"
- refers to an event or activity organized by or on behalf of a
tobacco manufacturer, distributor or retailer with the aim of
promoting a brand of tobacco product, which event or activity would
not occur but for the support given to it by or on behalf of the
tobacco manufacturer's name, trademark, logo, etc. on non-tobacco
products. This includes the paid use of tobacco products bearing the
brand names, tradenames, logos, etc. In movies, television and other
forms of entertainment. For the purpose of thus
Act, promotion shall be understood as tobacco promotion;
m. "Public
Conveyance"
- refers to mode of transportation servicing the general population
such as, but not limited to, elevators, airplanes, buses, taxicabs,
ships, jeepneys, light rail transits, tricycles, and similar
vehicles;
n. "Public
Places" -
refer to enclosed or confined areas of all hospitals, medical
clinics, schools, public transportation terminals and offices, and
building such as private and public offices, recreational places,
shopping malls, movie houses, hotels, restaurants, and the like;
o. "Retailer"
- refers to any person who or entity that sells tobacco products to
individuals for personal consumption;
p. "Smoking"
- refers to the act of carrying a lighted cigarette or other tobacco
products, whether or not it is being inhale or smoked;
q. "Sponsorship"
- refers to any public or private contribution to a third party in
relation to an event, team or activity made with the aim of
promoting a brand of tobacco product, which event, team or activity
would still exist or occur without such contribution. For the
purpose of this Act, sponsorship shall be understood as tobacco
sponsorship;
r. "Tobacco"
- refers to agricultural components derived from the tobacco plant,
which are processed for use in the manufacturing of cigarettes and
other tobacco products;
s. "Tobacco
Products" -
refers to any product that consists of loose tobacco that contains
nicotine and is intended for use in a cigarette, including any
product containing tobacco and intended smoking or oral or nasal
use. Unless stated otherwise, the requirements of this Act
pertaining to cigarettes shall apply to other tobacco products;
t. "Tobacco
Grower" -
refers to any person who plants tobacco before the enactment of this
Act and classified as such by the national Tobacco Administration (NTA);
and
u. "Warning"
- refers to the notice printed on the tobacco product or its
container and/or displayed in print or alert in broadcast or
electronic media including outdoor advertising and which shall bear
information on the hazard of tobacco use;
CONTINUE
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