New Delhi, July 20 -- In a first, the Union government is tightening the rules for collecting and testing tobacco products, with the ministry of health and family welfare and the National Tobacco Regulators Forum creating a framework on the same, according to government officials and a document reviewed by Mint.

These rules standardize the process for collecting, handling, and transporting tobacco products to the designated National Tobacco Testing Laboratories, ensuring the integrity of samples for accurate analysis, the document stated.

As part of the plan, states and Union Territories will collect samples from retail shops and manufacturing warehouses, requiring at least 7 packets of cigarettes and 10 bundles of bidis to ensure an ad...