Ukraine re-examining plain packaging challenge

Ukraine’s trade minister has met with a delegation of health groups following a remark by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk that he doubted the appropriateness of a legal challenge filed against Australia’s standardized packaging legislation, according to an Interfax story relayed by the TMA.
Ukraine’s 2012 challenge, along with those of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Indonesia have been lodged with the World Trade Organization.
During the meeting, the minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius and deputy minister Natalia Mykolska were told by representatives of anti-smoking and health groups that the continuation of the dispute at the WTO could affect the international image of Ukraine.
Members of the Ukrainian Center for Tobacco Control, the Media Law Institute, the Ukrainian World Congress, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use attended the meeting.
Abromavicius was said also to have met with Australia’s ambassador to Ukraine.
The countries challenging Australia’s standardized tobacco legislation argue that it comprises a barrier to trade and infringes tobacco firms’ intellectual property rights.