Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(December 18, 2015, New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation today hailed a decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration to dismiss a claim by Philip Morris International Inc, saying that it did not have jurisdiction to hear a case against Australia’s plain packaging law in Singapore.
The legislation was enacted by Australia’s Senate and House of Representatives in 2011 and came into effect from December 1, 2012. The legislation states that all cigarettes and other tobacco products must be sold in plain olive-coloured packaging, free of company logos, branding and promotional text. The same font must be used for all brands and graphic health warnings cover 90 percent of the back of the package and 70 percent of the front. Studies indicate that the law has been highly effective in decreasing tobacco use and discouraging youth from taking up smoking.
José Luis Castro, President & CEO, World Lung Foundation and The Union North America, commented: “Today's ruling is a victory for common sense and public health and a bitter disappointment for Big Tobacco and its efforts to bully national governments around the world. As soon as a sovereign government considers large graphic warnings or plain packaging of tobacco products, some of the world’s biggest and most profitable companies threaten legal action. When legal action fails in the country itself, they turn to the international courts.
“This ruling confirms that Australia – and governments across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas – are well within their authority and within the purview of national and international law to both warn consumers about the harms of tobacco use, and ban tobacco promotional tactics – a goal achieved by the combination of graphic pack warnings plain packaging. We hope that this positive ruling in Australia’s favor will be repeated in any future cases brought under international law, where Big Tobacco still attempts to mask health information as a trade issue in order to bully a democratically elected government.
“The strength of the industry’s opposition is further evidence that that such measures actually work, in spite of the industry’s claims to the contrary. We call on those countries currently considering and enacting plain packaging to follow Australia’s lead and for those who need it, to avail themselves of assistance from the Anti-Tobacco Trade Litigation Fund. Together, we can stand up to the tobacco industry and save millions of lives.”
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the world today, and is responsible for more than five million deaths each year—one in ten preventable deaths worldwide. The implementation of graphic pack warnings and plain packaging is one of the main commitments under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which Australia is a party. It is one of the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R (W=Warn) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.