Philip Morris launches legal battle over Australian cigarette packaging
Tobacco giant Philip Morris has notified the Australian government that it intends to request arbitration over Canberra’s draft law regarding plain packaging requirements for cigarettes. Hong Kong-based Philip Morris Asia Limited (PMA), owner of Australian affiliate Philip Morris Limited, claims that the law would violate Australia’s obligations under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with Hong Kong. “The forced removal of trademarks and other valuable intellectual property is a clear violation of the terms of the agreement,” Philip Morris said “Legal action is not a course we take lightly, but the government has unfortunately left us with no other option,” Anne Edwards, spokesperson for PMA, added. Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011, a draft law that aims to make tobacco products less attractive to consumers, would prohibit all logos, along with different colouring and layout on cigarette packs; it would also require that health warnings cover a substantial portion of each package. Though other countries, including New Zealand, the UK, and Uruguay, have previously attempted to adopt similarly strict requirements for cigarette packaging, Australia would be the first country to actually implement such measures. “We’re going to deliver cigarette packages in that drab green, with no logos, nothing attractive or enticing about the package,” Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard explained in an interview with ABS Melbourne. “We are confident of our reforms – confident we can deliver them and confident that they will make a difference to the number of people smoke and that’s what this is all about,” she added. Tobacco giant’s action follows developing country-led WTO debate PMA’s announcement comes only a few weeks after the same legislation was the subject of heated discussions in the WTO’s Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The Dominican Republic led a group of developing countries in criticising Canberra’s draft […]