Philip Morris Loses Latest Case Against Australia Cigarette-Pack Laws
December 18 2015 - 12:50AM
Dow Jones News
CANBERRA, Australia—Tobacco giant Philip Morris has lost a
protracted and costly international legal battle with Australia
over laws requiring its products to be sold without brand logos, in
a ruling that could embolden more countries to follow suit.
Philip Morris Asia Ltd challenged Australia's laws in 2011, when
they were the first of their kind in the world, arguing the
legislation breached its intellectual property and trademarks by
requiring branding to be removed from packaging and replaced by
graphic health warnings.
The maker of Marlboro cigarettes launched the action under
Australia's 1993 bilateral investment treaty with Hong Kong, which
protects investments made by companies against discriminatory
treatment by governments using so-called investor-state dispute
settlement clauses.
But both Australia's government and Philip Morris Asia said
Friday that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Singapore, which
was to oversee the challenge, had decided it didn't have
jurisdiction to consider the case, meaning Australia's laws can
remain in force.
"We welcome the unanimous decision by the tribunal agreeing with
Australia's position that it has no jurisdiction to hear Philip
Morris' claim," Australia's Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash
said in a news release. "Smoking does untold harm to Australians,
causing deaths from cancer, lung and heart disease, and hurting
families."
Since Australia passed its laws several other countries have
introduced similar legislation, and another 20 are considering the
idea. The U.K. parliament in March voted to ban branding on
cigarette packs as of May 2016, while France also passed
legislation recently requiring plain packaging from next year.
Big tobacco companies including British American Tobacco PLC,
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco International and Philip
Morris International Inc. began presenting legal challenges against
plain-packaging laws in London's High Court earlier this month, in
a case being watched closely in Europe.
Philip Morris International's Senior Vice President and General
Counsel Marc Firestone said it was "regrettable" that Australia's
government had chosen a procedural approach that challenged the
Singapore tribunal's jurisdiction, rather confronting the merits of
plain packaging laws head-on.
"There is nothing in today's outcome that addresses, let alone
validates, plain packaging in Australia or anywhere else," Mr.
Firestone said, adding that the company was reviewing the decision
for a possible appeal.
Lawmakers around the world are stepping up their actions against
tobacco packaging. Ireland and Hungary have also passed
plain-packaging laws. British American Tobacco failed in 2012 with
a challenge to Australia's laws launched through the country's peak
High Court. In 2012, a challenge by British American Tobacco
against Australia's laws failed in the country's peak High
Court.
Australia's laws were introduced by the country's former Labor
government to curb smoking-related health issues, with tobacco
companies forced to adopt olive green packaging and graphic health
warnings in place of their own branding.
"Plain packaging is a legitimate public health measure which is
consistent with Australia's international legal obligations," Ms.
Nash said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 18, 2015 00:35 ET (05:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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