On 28 June 2018, the World Trade Organization upheld Australia’s right to require cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging without any logos and rejected Indonesia, Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic complaints. Previously on 29 April 2010, the Australian Government announced that it would introduce mandatory plain packaging of tobacco products as a strategy to reduce the rate of smoking in Australia and to improve the public health. This was encompassed underneath the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011. This act was passed by their parliament in November 2011 and received Royal Assent in December of the same year.
As of December 2012, the tobacco companies where prohibited to use logos, brand imagery, symbols or other images, colours, and promotional text on their products and packaging but instead must comply to the standard of a drab dark brown, matt finish packaging. To distinguish between brands and types, the packs are marked with a name printed in a standard colour, position, font size, and font style. There is also a requirement to have a graphic health warning that will take up 75% of the front and 90% of the back on the package.
In the WTO, Members have argued that Australia has breached the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) due to the fact that the regulations of the tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 are trade restrictive and infringe upon the trademark rights of the tobacco companies. In response, Australia argues that its laws are justified under WTO Agreement because it made to achieve the objective of the protection of public health.
With the 28th June ruling by the WTO sided with Australia in affirming Australia’s right to impose the plain-packaging rules, considering the WTO agreements contain exemptions that allow Australia the right to do so due to necessary measures in protecting the health of the country’s citizens. Following Australia’s success, a number of countries are following suit as they have passed similar rules. These countries include France, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and the U.K., while other countries such as Belgium, Canada, Colombia, India, Panama, Malaysia, Turkey, and Singapore are considering such measures.