Bangkok/Manila, 11 June 2020: On 9 June 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body affirmed with finality that Australia’s landmark standardized tobacco packaging law is fully consistent with international trade laws. This final ruling was celebrated by public health groups around the world, including the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).
“This historic judgment is a public health victory that puts the final nail in the coffin of the tobacco industry’s legal challenges against standardized packaging. This ruling not only upholds Australia’s 2012 standardized or plain packaging law, but it also strengthens standardized tobacco packaging in countries, such as Singapore and Thailand, that have similar laws in place, and encourages even more countries to adopt and implement this life-saving tobacco control measure and not be intimidated by industry threats of legal challenges,” said Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, Executive Director of SEATCA.
Following Australia’s lead, more than 30 countries and territories have moved forward with standardized packaging, with 16 countries having adopted the measure and at least 15 other countries in varying stages of introducing standardized packaging laws. Thailand’s standardized packaging law has been in force since September 2019, while Singapore’s law will come into force on 1 July 2020.
Since 2012, the tobacco industry has lost all its legal challenges against standardized packaging both in national and international courts, not only in Australia, but also in France, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
Tobacco companies launch legal challenges against governments as a tactic to delay, derail and tie up governments’ limited resources in protracted battles. It is an intimidation strategy aimed to scare off governments.
“Evidence shows that standardized packaging works to reduce tobacco use by diminishing the attractiveness of tobacco products, eliminating tobacco packaging as a form of advertising, and increasing the noticeability of pictorial health warnings, thereby restricting the tobacco industry’s ability to market to young people, encouraging quitting among current tobacco users, and helping prevent ex-users from relapsing,” added Dorotheo.
Contact:
Wendell C Balderas, Media and Communications Manager – SEATCA
Email: wendell@seatca.org | Mobile: +63 999 881 2117 ##
Related Links:
- Appelate Body issues reports regarding tobacco plain packaging requirements – https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news20_e/435_441abr_e.htm
- Packaging Design Analysis to Support Standardized Packaging in the ASEAN – https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/Packaging%20Design%20Analysis%20to%20Support%20Standardised%20Packaging%20in%20the%20ASEAN_WEB_F.pdf
- Tobacco Plain Packaging: Global Status Update –
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/275277/WHO-NMH-PND-NAC-18.9-eng.pdf?ua=1 - Plain packaging of tobacco products: evidence, design and implementation – http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/207478/9789241565226_eng.pdf?sequence=1
About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the evidence-based tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control movements in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.
