By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Sweeping packaging rules: Israel now requires graphic health warnings covering 75% of the packaging for all tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, hookah products, and rolling tobacco.
- Plain packaging expands: Packages must feature standardized dark brown packaging, and brand colors, logos, and other design elements are prohibited.
- Broader crackdown: The new requirements are part of Israel’s implementation of the WHO FCTC and carry significant financial penalties for noncompliance.
Israel has implemented one of its most comprehensive tobacco and nicotine packaging regulations to date, requiring graphic health warnings on all tobacco and nicotine products sold in the country, including nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes.
The rules, which took effect on Aug. 2, require that graphic warning images, scientific health information and smoking cessation resources occupy 75% of product packaging. The remaining 25% must use Pantone 448C, a standardized drab brown-green color adopted as part of Israel’s plain packaging requirements. Brand colors, logos and decorative design elements are prohibited.
The requirements extend beyond traditional cigarettes to include e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, hookah tobacco, and rolling tobacco, making Israel one of a growing number of countries that require graphic warnings across a broad range of nicotine products.
The measures fulfill commitments under the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which Israel signed in 2003 and ratified in 2005. According to the Israel Cancer Association, about 140 countries now require pictorial health warnings, covering about 66% of the world’s population.
Calling the measure “a very dramatic milestone in the fight against smoking,” Moshe Bar Haim, chief executive officer of the Israel Cancer Association, said, “A picture is worth a thousand words, and from today, it may also save lives, authentically convey the devastating effects of tobacco, and deter even those who do not smoke.”
Bar Haim also urged lawmakers to go further by banning flavored smoking products, such as flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
“We must protect the younger generation from the predatory claws of the tobacco industry,” he said. “All smoking products in Israel, including hookahs, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches, must be permitted only in their original tobacco flavor.”
The implementation comes as new survey data cited by the Israel Cancer Association found that 24% of Israelis currently smoke cigarettes, while 15% use e-cigarettes. Among people aged 16 to 24, e-cigarette use rises to 24%. The association also reported that approximately 5% of teenagers and young adults have tried nicotine pouches.
Israel’s Health Ministry has linked the implementation of the new packaging rules to broader efforts to reduce smoking prevalence and raise awareness of smoking-related health risks. Under the updated law, marketing tobacco or nicotine products without the required graphic warnings is a criminal offense, with fines of up to NIS 452,000 (US$121,000) for corporations and NIS 226,000 for privately owned businesses.
