WASHINGTON – On Friday, just one day before the 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General warning on tobacco products and lung cancer, The U.S. Department of Justice and the tobacco industry reached an agreement on how the companies will publicize “corrective statements” on cigarette packaging, prime-time television, major newspaper ads and on the companies’ websites.

CQ reports that the agreement would implement an order originally issued by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in 2006. The corrective statements, outlined by Kessler in November 2012, would include language that a federal court ruled that the companies “deliberately deceived the American public.”

The news source writes that a hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, “when Kessler will decide whether to sign off on the agreement or take more time to review it. Tobacco companies have reserved the right to appeal the statements, which would address a range of deceptions about smoking’s impact on health, its addictive nature and the health effects of second-hand smoke, as well as false advertising of light or low-tar cigarettes as less harmful.”

One outstanding issue, however, remains in place: “This Consent Order does not resolve the outstanding issue of corrective statements in retail point-of-sale displays.”