Standardized tobacco pack complaints revived with World Trade Organization

Honduras is reviving its complaint to the World Trade Organization over Australia’s standardized tobacco packaging law, according to a story by Tom Miles for Reuters.

The complaint, that Australia’s tobacco-packaging requirements create obstacles to world trade, had lain dormant, but now Honduras has asked for a WTO meeting on Sept. 25 to set up a panel of adjudicators.

A similar complaint by Ukraine, which also laid dormant for a while, was apparently reactivated earlier.

Two other countries, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, launched similar WTO complaints against Australia, but their complaints remain at an earlier stage and neither has tabled a request for WTO adjudication at the Sept. 25 meeting.