After lengthy delay, Indonesia orders cigarette packs to carry graphic pics

The regulations were watered down following opposition by tobacco farmers and cigarette companies, and fall far short of those in many Western countries and other Asian markets. Billboard and television advertising remains widespread, as is sponsorship of sports and pop music events.

The law regulating tobacco was issued in 2009, but the supporting regulations fleshing it out was not signed by the president until late December. They were posted in full on a government website late Wednesday. Tobacco companies will have 18 months to implement them.

The law bans companies from use terms such as “mild” and “light” in connection with their tobacco products, saying such terms are misleading. But a clause says those brands that are already registered trademarks will be unaffected, meaning that top companies with huge-selling lines will likely be able to keep selling them.

“There was lots of intervention from the companies,” Tulus Bagus, from the Indonesian Consumer Foundation, said Thursday. “They are very strong.”

Indonesian men rank as the world's top smokers, with two out of three of them lighting up. About 3 percent of women smoke in the country. Indonesia, with 240 million people, is the world's fourth most populous country and the fifth-largest cigarette-producing market, with an industry that employs millions.

In 2005, Philip Morris bought a large stake in Sampoerna, a local cigarette company, to expand its business in the country.

Under the new law, photos depicting the health effects of smoking must take up 40 percent of the area on the back and front of packets, less than many countries. According to the U.S. Food and Drug administration more than 30 countries require such warnings and scientific evidence demonstrates that they encourage people to quit.

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