subject: Australia To Introduce Landmark Anti-smoking Measure [print this page] According to the measure, the tobacco companies would be banned from placing any brand labels, colors or text on the packs of their products. Instead, the packs would only contain uniform black-and-white letters, and the most part of each pack will be occupied by graphic health warnings.
But tobacco industry is preparing to contest the move. According to a communications manager for British American Tobacco, the leading tobacco company in the country, the measure to require plain packaging would not succeeded due to close scrutiny.
However, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is confident this measure as well as the increase in tobacco taxes will be effective strategies in reducing smoking rates in Australia.
Australian lawmakers named the plain packaging measure as the unique move across the globe and an example for other governments on how to crack down public smoking.
Meanwhile, in January, a similar move by U.S authorities was overturned by a court ruling on the grounds that the ban on the usage of logos and imagery is a violation of tobacco companies rights.
In 2008, U.K. legislators voted down a proposal to prohibit logos, while they approved a ban on point-of-sale tobacco displays. Yet, U.K. Health Minister said he would urge the government to require plain packaging in a move to cut smoking rates by a half within a decade.
The ban on logos and imagery on cigarette packs could be contested on several grounds. According to intellectual property experts the ban is a violation of Australias commitments to international trade conventions, under which the government is not entitled to take away or devalue any company property right, even if it is a tobacco company.
Representatives of tobacco companies said the measure would hurt their products, but wouldnt cut the number of smokers, since plain packages will be an easy prey for the counterfeiters and smugglers.
Currently, black market has more than 10% of Australian tobacco market, what costs the budget A$600 million annually in lost taxes, and the criminals dont ask teenagers for ID, when selling them untaxed smuggled tobacco.
Nicola Roxon, head of Australian Health Ministry admitted the measure is a part of the strategy developed by World Health Organization to reduce smoking rates. The law will be drafted in such a way, so that no legal challenge will succeed, she mentioned.
Australian Health Minister said that the imagery, logos and promotional texts the tobacco companies use contribute to many health complication, so they had to act to stop that.
The government effort is to reduce the number of adult smokers by 10% by 2018.
