LONDON (Brand Republic) - Cigarette companies may be forced to change brand names and emblazon cigarette packets with hard-hitting pictures of rotting teeth and gangrenous limbs, following an agreement reached by EU governments and members of the European Parliament yesterday.
The EU wants to ban brands using names or descriptions such as 鈥渓ight鈥 and 鈥渓ow-tar鈥, which could see the end of popular brands such as Marlboro Lights.
It is expected the measures will come into force in September 2002 across the EU鈥檚 15 member states, although cigarette manufacturers will have until September 30 2003 to clear shelves of such brands.
The agreement follows months of acrimonious debate and fierce opposition from tobacco companies, which are expected to mount legal challenges to the name changes.
The announcement came on the same day that British American Tobacco, the world鈥檚 second-largest quoted tobacco company, announced annual operating profits of £2.58bn with sales of 807bn cigarettes.
BAT鈥檚 £5.3bn purchase of Rothmans International in 1999 was a major factor of a 27% rise in profits, despite a wave of litigation in the US, alleged collusion with smugglers and increasing advertising restrictions.