Xu Guihua, vice president of the China Tobacco Control Association, made the landmark announcement at a seminar in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. She said the country is committed to fulfil its obligations to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which it formally joined last January.
A ban on tobacco advertising has been in place since 1996, but firms have managed to sidestep the rules and promote their brands in other, more subtle ways such as sponsoring sporting events, or using their logos without mentioning cigarettes on television, radio and in newspapers and magazines.
According to the WHO convention, tobacco products must carry prominent health warnings on the packaging. This measure needs to be implemented within three years from when China signed the convention. Within five years, China must fulfil it commitment to comprehensively ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
Cigarette makers spent more than 1.6 billion yuan (USD 212 million) to promote their brands last year, according to China Youth Daily.