Cigarette packaging through the ages
Cigarette packets have been required to carry a Government warning since 1971, but now a complete ban on tobacco firm branding on cartons appears imminent.
In 1991 the British tobacco industry launched legal proceedings against the government in a bid to reduced the size of new health warnings on cigarette packs - and lost their case in the European Court in 1993.
In 1999 the European Commission adopted a new directive on tobacco regulation calling for the disclosure of all ingredients and additives and the prohibition of descriptors such as “mild” and “light”.
In 2004 the European Commission issued a range of hard hitting picture warnings for the backs of cigarette packs, designed for use in combination with health warnings such as "Smoking kills" that were introduced a year earlier.
This Sunday will mark a year since Australia introduced "plain" cigarette packaging. Rather than blank cartons, the packets are completely covered in graphic images depicting the harmful effects of smoking.