US business group lobbies against plain cigarette pack imposition in Ireland

The Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce is lobbying against proposals by Ireland’s Department of Health to standardize the design of cigarette packs, according to a story by Tom Lyons for the Irish Times.

In doing so, the powerful lobby group has joined other business interests resisting the proposed change, including employer representative Ibec and the Law Society.

In a letter obtained by the Times, the world’s largest business federation with three million business members said it had ‘deep concerns’ about what it called the ‘proposed destruction of trademark and branding rights in the tobacco sector’.

‘We do not believe this initiative is well founded and we urge it to be reconsidered,’ said Myron A Brilliant, the chamber’s head of international affairs in writing to the Oireachtas [parliamentary] Committee on Health and Children, which is considering the issue.

‘The notion that the Irish Government is contemplating measures that would destroy any industry’s legitimate and legally sanctioned trademark protection and branding causes concern in the US business community and extends into many different sectors of our membership.’