Marketing and labelling

All kind of marketing of tobacco products is prohibited in Finland, this includes also so called indirect marketing and sponsoring.

Display ban

Because the marketing of tobacco products is prohibited, the visual layout of the packaging is a key marketing channel, as is the placement of the products in daily retail environments. In Finland, visible display of tobacco products at sales outlets is prohibited.

The display ban also covers electronic cigarettes, nicotine liquids, cigarette substitutes and their brands.  The display ban does not apply to stores that are focused on the sales of tobacco and nicotine products and have a separate entrance (including the so-called tobacco stores) or sales on international marine traffic vessels.

Labelling of the unit packets

Tobacco packages must include:

  • text warnings in Finnish and in Swedish;
  • picture warnings of the adverse health effects of tobacco products;
  • an information message about the harmfulness of tobacco smoke;
  • smoking cessation information, and
  • a unique identifier to ensure the traceability of the unit packet and a tamper-proof security feature.

The combined text and picture warnings are selected from the European Commission’s picture archive of combined picture warnings.

According to the Tobacco Act

  • tobacco products,
  • electronic cigarettes,
  • refill containers,
  • herbal products for smoking, and
  • nicotine liquids and nicotine-free liquids intended for vaporising  can only be sold in retail packaging meeting the requirements set in legislation.

The minimum size  of a unit packet of a tobacco product is 20 cigarettes, 30 g of roll-your-own or pipe tobacco, or 10 cigarillos.

The labelling of tobacco products and their unit packets shall not, for example,

  • promote the sales of the product by creating an erroneous impression regarding its characteristics, health effects, risks or emissions,
  • include any information about the nicotine, tar or carbon monoxide content of the product,
  • suggest that the product is less harmful than others or that the product has vitalising and energising properties.