Tobacco Plain Packaging Debate Heats Up Again

Members at the TRIPS Council meeting also addressed a proposed New Zealand law that, if implemented, would require plain packaging for tobacco products. The controversial legislation would require standardised packaging without trademarks, a drab monotone design, and prominent health warnings on cigarette packaging, with only a small line of text to distinguish one brand from another.

At this week’s meeting, the Dominican Republic - whose main export is tobacco - took the lead in commenting on the draft legislation, saying that it would hinder employment and would force producers to compete based on price instead of quality.

The Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Ukraine have each lodged separate complaints with the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) over a similar piece of legislation that has already been enacted in Australia. The three members have argued that the law is inconsistent with the WTO’s intellectual property rules and could have large negative impacts on local industries. (DS441, DS435, and DS434, respectively).

Australian officials have, in turn, responded that the law is necessary for achieving public health objectives and is in line with the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

A dispute panel has already been established for Ukraine’s complaint against Australia; once the other two complainants lodge their second panel requests, a joint panel will be composed to hear the WTO cases together. Given that the Australian disputes are currently unresolved, the Dominican Republic urged New Zealand to wait for the final outcome of these cases before adopting its plain packaging legislation.

In response, New Zealand said it would continue developing the planned legislation - which is currently in the drafting stage - but may wait to see the outcome of the dispute before implementing it, echoing recent comments made by the country’s prime minister, John Key. It also recalled that the 2001 Doha Declaration says that TRIPS does not and should not prevent members from taking measures supportive of public health.