Following on already robust Western campaigns to minimize the baleful impacts of smoking, the U.K. plans to enact a “plain-packaging” law next year that will remove most of the branding and artwork from cigarette packs. But not without a fight.
Tobacco giants Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco Plc have filed lawsuits claiming the law is “excessive, harms their trademarks and infringes on World Trade Organization rules.”
Marc Firestone, general counsel of Swiss-based Philip Morris, said in a statement, “We respect the government’s authority to regulate in the public interest, but wiping out trademarks simply goes too far.” Further, U.K-based BAT noted that the plain packaging law is “disproportionate” and was voted on following a “flawed consultation process.”
American and British legislators have taken drastic measures in the last two decades to arrest the uptick in new smokers. The American Food and Drug Administration, for example, began in recent years using graphic images conveying the effects of long-term smoking as well as including prominent risk messages on cigarette packaging. Further, bans on the production of flavored cigarettes, prohibiting the use of cartoons and advertising that associate smoking with pleasure, and the passage of significant tobacco taxes have all resulted in marked decreases among new and existing smokers.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman, Jean-Christophe Gray, said the rules went through an extensive review process. “There’s no change in the government’s view on this,” Gray told reporters at a briefing in London. The government has “done this right at every stage.”
