At the heart of the ruling by Mr Justice Green is the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015, which the companies say will destroy their highly valuable property rights and render products indistinguishable from each other.
Advertisement
JTI, one of the tobacco companies that brought the case, announced it meant to appeal, although this would not delay the introduction of plain packs.
Smokefree South West has celebrated the forthcoming introduction of standardised “plain” tobacco packaging.
“This judgement will not only let the United Kingdom get on and protect children with plain packaging, but should encourage other countries to consider introducing it as well”.
It also rules that packets must be 65 percent covered in picture-led warnings, with more health warnings on the top of the box.
Plain packs are being introduced in line with the Tobacco Products Directive of the European Union, which comes into force on Friday.
The directive includes a ban on menthol cigarettes and “lipstick-style” packs aimed at women and a ban on promotional statements.
“And now that the big tobacco companies lost their case in the European Court of Justice, those member states who have still not fully transposed the directive need to get on and do it”.
It is all about tobacco harm reduction and an attempt to deter people from smoking.
The reduction in cigarette use seen over the past two years in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, has been directly linked to the rise in e-cigarette use. But then another review of the public health benefits was ordered.
Smoking is the number one cause of preventable early death.
The Irish Cancer Society welcomed the UK High Court’s decision to reject the tobacco industry’s challenge to plain packaging regulations.
In addition JTI feels this decision sets a risky precedent for intellectual property rights and investment and that other consumer goods industries must now worry that their branding is under threat from political opportunism, rather than examining the evidence. After peaking at $17.1 billion in 2011, state cigarette tax receipts fell to $16.3 billion in 2014, according to a report from the Orzechowski & Walker market research firm posted by the Federation of Tax Administrators. This historic rule helps implement the bipartisan Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 and allows the FDA to improve public health and protect future generations from the dangers of tobacco use through a variety of steps, including restricting the sale of these tobacco products to minors nationwide.
Advertisement
Manufacturers’ brand information on the packaging will have to follow a standardised specification and there will be a compulsory increase in the size of graphically explicit health warnings. “There is no basis upon which I could or should strike down the regulations or prevent them coming into effect tomorrow”.
