The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is urging cigarette dealers to refrain from importing tobacco products that fail to meet the criteria of the National Standard.
The GNBS in a release yesterday disclosed that it had recently seized 542 packs of cigarettes. These cigarettes, it said, did not meet the requirements of the National Standard “GYS 9-3:2014 Labelling of Tobacco Products” and the Tobacco Control Regulation of 2018.
According to the release, the items were seized from a number of outlets in regions Three, Four, Five and Six, following surveillance inspections. During surveillance visits to shops and supermarkets, GNBS stated that its inspectors found several brands of cigarettes, which were not labelled in English, while other packages did not include a pictorial warning as specified by the Tobacco Control Regulation. The Regulation specifies that pictorial warnings should be placed on each packet and must cover 60 per cent of the top front and back of the packets.