Plain packs litigation ‘unlikely to succeed’

The Scottish government would be “very confident” of defending plans to bring in standardized packaging for cigarettes if there were a legal challenge from tobacco companies, according to a Herald Scotland story quoting Public Health Minister Michael Matheson.

Matheson said that introducing standardized packs for cigarettes and other tobacco products was necessary to help Scotland “build a generation free from tobacco.”

He was speaking after reports that the tobacco industry was ready to sue the Scottish government for £500 million if standardized packs were introduced.

The Scotsman newspaper was quoted as having said that Philip Morris International had based the £500 million figure on the loss of intellectual property rights that the introduction of standardized packaging would involve.

Anti-smoking campaigners at ASH Scotland said any legal action by cigarette firms was “unlikely to succeed.”