Now your OTT content will come with tobacco warning

India mandates tobacco warning on online streaming content, violations will bring strict action

| Updated: 31 May, 2023 9:04 pm IST

NEW DELHI: You have witnessed the statutory warning on your television screens and in the theatres; now the tobacco warning will be displayed on your mobiles too.

On World Tobacco Day, the Union Health Ministry mandates tobacco warnings on online streaming content. Taking a strong stand, the ministry also stated that failure to comply with the rule will result in strict action for publishers.

The gazette notification says that after Rule 10 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2004, the newly inducted rule will be inserted.

Every publisher of online curated content displaying tobacco products or their use shall “display anti-tobacco health spots, of minimum thirty seconds duration each, at the beginning and middle of the program, display an anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of the tobacco products or their use in the program”.

Along with that, it is also mandatory to “display an audio-visual disclaimer on the ill-effects of tobacco use, of minimum twenty seconds duration each, in the beginning, and middle of the program”.

Violations of the newly inducted rule will be liable to strict action by the Union Health ministry and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

“If the publisher of online curated content fails to comply with the provisions of sub-rules (1) to (5), an inter-ministerial committee consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, shall take action suo motu or on a complaint, and after identifying the publisher of online curated content, issue a notice giving reasonable opportunity to explain the such failure and make appropriate modification in the content,” the notification reads.

The display of tobacco products or their use in online curated content shall not extend to “display of the brands of cigarettes or other tobacco products or any form of tobacco product placement”.

Further, it shall not extend to the display of tobacco products or their use in promotional materials.

The newly promulgated Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules 2023 are to come into force on and after the expiration of three months from the date of their publication in the official Gazette.

Reacting to the decision, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South East Asia Region, said, “Congratulations to India on becoming the first country in the world to regulate anti-tobacco warnings on OTT platforms.”

“Today’s move demonstrates India’s unstinted commitment to protect the health of people from the harmful effects of tobacco. I commend the country’s strong leadership and all stakeholders for this landmark step,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said.