{"id":3653,"date":"2015-12-20T00:54:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T00:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3653"},"modified":"2015-12-20T00:54:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-20T00:54:13","slug":"crikey-australia-kicks-international-big-tobaccos-butt-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3653","title":{"rendered":"Crikey! Australia kicks international Big Tobacco’s butt … again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"australia_flag_map1-300x267\"<\/p>\n

Yet another major legal victory for Australia<\/a> in its long-running battle against Big Tobacco.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Australia defeated Philip Morris International, which has been one of the corporations fighting Australia for the past five to 10 years over that nation’s plain-packaging laws.<\/p>\n

Initially, the government of Australia won in the Australian Supreme Court for the right to impose a plain-packaging law. In Australia, packages of cigarettes not only cannot have logos of tobacco brands, but they are required to have graphic images of the damage that tobacco does to people’s mouths, teeth, etc.<\/p>\n

\"Plain_Packaging_Australia\"
Australian plain packaging. Pleasant, huh?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, after losing before the Australian Supreme Court, Philip Morris Int’l persuaded several countries to get involved in litigation against Australia to claim that that country’s plain packaging laws were violating trade agreements and international trade law. Ukraine was one of the countries involved, but dropped out many months ago.<\/p>\n

However, Hong Kong was still involved in this legal action, invoking something called the “1993 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement”. \u00a0An entity known as an “arbitral tribunal” (seriously, that’s what it is called), declined to hear Hong Kong and Philip Morris Int’l’s case, ending the litigation … for now.<\/p>\n

From the Guardian article:<\/p>\n

The minister responsible for Australia’s tobacco policy, Fiona Nash, said: \u201cWe welcome the unanimous decision by the tribunal agreeing with Australia\u2019s position that it has no jurisdiction to hear Philip Morris\u2019s claim.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Public Health Association of Australia welcomed the decision as \u201cthe best Christmas present for public health nationally and internationally\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmoking in Australia is falling in adults, in children and by tobacco volume sales,\u201d said the association\u2019s chief executive, Michael Moore.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the tobacco companies have lost another crucial legal bid to stop this life-saving measure. The message is loud and clear \u2013 plain packaging works, and it is here to stay.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not surprisingly, Philip Morris was not happy with the decision. From the article:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing in today\u2019s outcome that addresses, let alone validates, plain packaging in Australia or anywhere else,\u201d said Marc Firestone, Philip Morris International<\/a> senior vice president and general counsel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable that the outcome hinged entirely on a procedural issue that Australia chose to advocate instead of confronting head on the merits of whether plain packaging is legal or even works.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, wah! Cry me a river, Philip Morris. Shouldn’t you be busy picking on Uruguay?<\/p>\n

\"FranceFlag_svg\"
Yay, go France. Cracking down on cigarette marketing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This decision could help other countries that are proposing plain packaging laws. Ireland already does it, and France is moving ahead <\/a>with plain packaging for tobacco in 2016, following\u00a0Australia’s lead. Efforts to force plain packaging for cigarettes in the U.S. are stymied by a very strong First Amendment.<\/p>\n

Philip Morris International and other tobacco companies have fought these plain packaging laws around the world; they’ve even enlisted the help of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to aid them in their fights against Uruguay, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Togo and other countries. Notice most of these countries are fairly small with limited finances and resources to fight Big Tobacco. Not a coincidence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet another major legal victory for Australia in its long-running battle against Big Tobacco. Specifically, Australia defeated Philip Morris International, which has been one of the corporations fighting Australia for the past five to 10 years over that nation’s plain-packaging laws. Initially, the government of Australia won in the Australian Supreme Court for the right … Continue reading Crikey! Australia kicks international Big Tobacco’s butt … again<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,755,453],"tags":[583,756,314],"class_list":["post-3653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-philip-morris-interntional","category-plain-packaging","tag-australia","tag-philip-morris-international","tag-plain-packaging"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=2254%2C1861&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-WV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4036,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4036","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":0},"title":"World Trade Organization rules in favour of Australia’s plain packaging laws for tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Big Tobacco simply won't quit. After years and years and years of getting their asses absolutely handed to them in court after court about Australia's plain packaging laws ... they lose yet again. Big Tobacco, primarily in the form of Philip Morris International, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco, has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/chk_jschl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3888,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3888","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":1},"title":"British High Court upholds graphic images on UK cigarette packs; law goes into effect in days","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A coalition of tobacco companies lost a major decision this week in Great Britain. The companies -- Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International -- were challenging a law requiring the removal of all branding logos and fonts and plain packaging on all tobacco product\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Great Britain"","block_context":{"text":"Great Britain","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=815"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cigarette-packs-543173.jpg?fit=590%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cigarette-packs-543173.jpg?fit=590%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cigarette-packs-543173.jpg?fit=590%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3751,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3751","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":2},"title":"Philip Morris International earnings, revenue down … big time","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Great story! Philip Morris International's earnings and revenue are dropping, dropping faster than forecast by the company. Philip Morris is a spin-off from Altria, which handles Philip Morris' domestic production of cigarettes. According to several stories I came across, Philip Morris' \u00a0revenues dropped 11 percent at the end of 2015,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philip Morris Interntional"","block_context":{"text":"Philip Morris Interntional","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=755"},"img":{"alt_text":"PMI","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/PMI.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2998,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2998","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":3},"title":"John Oliver’s Jeff the Diseased Lung takes off","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"John Oliver of \"Last Week Tonight\" did a follow-up story on his show's creation of \"Jeff the Diseased Lung.\" Jeff the Diseased Lung is a trademark designed by Oliver and his show for the tobacco industry which is fighting efforts in smaller countries around the world to limit tobacco industry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ireland"","block_context":{"text":"Ireland","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=312"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/jeff-the-diseased-lung2.jpg?fit=480%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2942,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2942","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":4},"title":"John Oliver — Meet “Jeff the Diseased Lung” takedown of tobacco companies","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is really brilliant. John Oliver on HBO dedicated an 18-minute segment to ripping into the tobacco companies for attacking small nations trying to implement anti-tobacco laws. Oliver makes some good points, some I knew about, others I didn't. We all know the tobacco industry is in full-fledged decline in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/john-oliver.jpg?fit=946%2C542&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/john-oliver.jpg?fit=946%2C542&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/john-oliver.jpg?fit=946%2C542&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/john-oliver.jpg?fit=946%2C542&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3331,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3331","url_meta":{"origin":3653,"position":5},"title":"Ukraine bails on ridiculous challenge to Australian plain packaging laws","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an update on John Oliver's excellent rant about the tactics of Big Tobacco in fighting regulations against their products worldwide. This is complicated and I'm not 100 percent confident I will explain it right, but I will try: Ukraine had been convinced (no doubt by Big Tobacco lobbying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/342903-cigarette-packs.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}