‘Plain ciggie packs do not infringe trade deals’
KUALA LUMPUR: Countries should be more assured in implementing plain packaging now that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has decided that plain packaging laws imposed on cigarettes did not breach any of its trade agreements, said a lawyer.
McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer (Australia) director Jonathan Liberman said with the WTO deciding in favour of Australia’s right in implementing such laws, countries are now able to implement the measures to protect public health because they do not violate WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
“The WTO’s decision is another demonstration that countries should not give in to tobacco indus- try’s legal threats and claims and that they should continue to do what’s best for the health of the people,” he said in an interview.
Liberman had presented a paper on “Australia’s plain packaging victory in the World Trade Organisation: implications for tobacco control and cancer prevention” at the World Cancer Congress here last Tuesday.
The plain packs are all a standardised drab brown colour with standardised text, as well as pictorial warnings.
This means that cigarette manufacturers can only print the brand name and variant in a mandated size and the appearance of all the packs is standardised.
It aims to deter smoking by removal of positive associations of brands (including design and symbol) with tobacco consumption.
On June 28, the WTO released a panel report, Australia — Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging, dismissing claims brought by Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Indonesia.
The WTO panel dismissed claims that Australia’s tobacco plain packaging laws infringed intellectual property protections and unnecessarily imposed trade restrictions.
The decision was the third victory for Australia over legal challenges to its plain packaging laws.
This comes after the dismissal of a constitutional challenge in the High Court and an investment treaty challenge under a 1993 Hong Kong-Australia bilateral investment treaty which protects the rights of investors.
“The WTO’s decision is important because most countries are parties to the WTO agreements and the tobacco industry has been saying that plain packing breached the WTO agreements.
“It has been telling countries not to implement plain packaging until the Australian case is cleared,” said Liberman.
Australia was the first country to take the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 11 a step further by implementing plain packaging from December 2012.
Six other countries have since implemented plain packaging – France, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Britain.
According to the Australian Government Department of Health website, the packaging changes resulted in 108,228 fewer smokers over the post-implementation period from December 2012 to September 2015.