The Government is considering the use of laser marking on cigarettes that have already been taxed in order to boost its efforts in fighting against illegally imported tobacco products, Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau said.

Prof Lo made the remarks while fielding questions from reporters after attending a radio programme today and apart from explaining the benefits of using the laser marking method, he pointed out that some countries have already implemented such a labelling method by printing a mark on the cigarette boxes or individual cigarettes.

“This can be done and the advantage is that we can easily identify which one has already been taxed, which ones are illicit cigarettes.

“So we are considering this option, and in future this will help us to identify which are illegally imported cigarettes or tobacco products and help our retailers to identify which are the legal ones and which are the illegal ones. And even our consumers, the smokers, they would know which are the legal ones and illegal ones.

"That would certainly help us to fight against all these illegally imported tobacco products.”