Compliance with COTPA (Packaging and Labeling) Rules, 2008 and its amendments in smokeless tobacco products sold across Mangaluru taluk, Karnataka, India.

Abstract

India introduced the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) (Packaging and Labeling [P and L]) Rules in 2008. These rules utilize the tobacco package to communicate tobacco-caused harms; it also seeks to restrict the delivery of misleading information about the product on the pack. The enormous burden of tobacco-related oral cancers in India necessitates the compliance with the law regarding presentation of information in powerful and salient ways, intentionally designed to increase the awareness in target individuals. The objectives of the study are to assess the compliance to implementation and enforcement of the COTPA (P and L) Rules, 2008 and its amendments in 2014 and 2018. Chewing tobacco products were retrieved and evaluated for compliance with the law. The specified pictorial and textual health warnings, area, clarity, rotation, and language were assessed as per the recommendations. Even though chewing tobacco products in India have introduced pictorial and textual health warnings, majority of them do not comply with the law. The products displayed the specified health warnings on a total of 70.6% on average, failing to abide by the government-specified average of 85%. 50% of the products did not follow the rotation of pictorial and textual health warning even after completion of the interregnum period of 12 months (September 2019). To ensure consumers' right to be informed about the health risks from a product, all the details regarding the contents, health warnings and messages, and product care instructions must be mentioned as specified under the law.