6-month extension granted for compliance with tobacco labelling rules
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the deadline has now been extended until 28 July.
Authorities have granted an additional six months to register tobacco products and to comply with health warning requirements, according to an announcement issued on Thursday.
Under existing regulations, all tobacco products imported into and sold in the Maldives are required to carry health warning notices in line with standards set by the Ministry of Health.
Changes introduced in July had set the deadline for registering tobacco products and nicotine products without health warnings as the 28th of this month. However, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the deadline has now been extended until 28 July.
Under the revised timeline, newly designated tobacco products may only be imported and sold after 28 July if they carry health warnings that meet the prescribed requirements. Products previously imported without health warnings will be prohibited from sale after that date. Authorities have instructed that such products be sold before the new deadline.
The HPA also noted that the list of registered tobacco products was revised on the 22nd of last month. Under the revised listing, different flavours of the same tobacco brand have been added as separate entries. In addition, variations based on the number of items in a package and the country of origin will now be recorded as distinct products.
Currently, different flavours of the same brand are not required to be registered separately. However, for statistical purposes, importers of flavoured tobacco products must submit documentation containing relevant product information to customs at the time of import.
