Challenge to cigarette pack rules is rejected
Print Edition
AN Australian law requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packets got a boost after an international tribunal said it would not hear a tobacco company’s legal challenge.
The government in Canberra yesterday welcomed the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration to refuse jurisdiction over a case brought by smoking giant Philip Morris.
“Plain packaging is a legitimate public health measure, which is consistent with Australia’s international legal obligations,” said Rural Health Minister Fiona Nash, who is responsible for tobacco policy.
“We welcome the unanimous decision by the tribunal agreeing with Australia’s position that it has no jurisdiction to hear Philip Morris’s claim,” she said.
“Smoking does untold harm to Australians, causing deaths from cancer; lung and heart disease, and hurting families.”
In 2012, Australia became the first country to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes, in a bid to cut smoking rates, and has since been followed by others, including France and Britain.
Big tobacco firms, including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International, have launched legal challenges against such laws, arguing they impinge on their trademark intellectual property.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, established to settle international disputes, declined to comment on its decision to refuse jurisdiction for the arbitration proceedings in Singapore.
Philip Morris accused Australia of using a procedural issue to avoid addressing the legality and effectiveness of plain packages, calling the move “regrettable.”
“There is nothing in today’s outcome that addresses, let alone validates, plain packaging in Australia,” Philip Morris’ Senior Vice President Marc Firestone said in a statement yesterday.
“This case has never been about a government’s undeniable authority to regulate in the public interest. Nor has there ever been any question that tobacco products merit strict oversight,” he said.
“The point is simply this: even when pursuing tobacco control objectives, governments are still accountable if they choose to use unlawful means.”
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