Category: Packaging

  • PM to pay for PP challenge

    PM to pay for PP challenge

    In a heavily redacted ruling that was issued in March but made public on the weekend, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has directed Philip Morris Asia (PMA) to pay the Australian federal government an undisclosed sum in legal costs, according to a story in WA Today relayed by the TMA.

    In December 2015, the Court dismissed PMA’s lawsuit challenging Australia’s ‘plain’ [standardized] packaging law, labeling it an ‘abuse of rights’.

    The story said that ‘some sources’ believed the award against PMA could be as high as A$50 million (US$38 million), plus a percentage of the arbitration costs.

    The company reportedly argued that Australia’s claim for costs was ‘excessive’ given that its legal team ‘consisted primarily of public servants’, and that it was well above what was claimed by Canada (US$4.5 million) and the US (US$3 million) in similar investment disputes.

    The Australian government said its claim, which included the cost of its own lawyers, outside counsel, expert reports and witnesses, plus travel and accommodation, was justified, and the court agreed. The court found that the Tribunal ‘does not consider that any of these costs claimed by the respondent were unreasonable and should not have been incurred’.

  • ‘Smoke-free’ status sought

    ‘Smoke-free’ status sought

    Malaysia is aiming to reduce the incidence of tobacco smoking in the country to 15 percent by 2025 and to five per cent by 2045, according to a story in The Borneo Post. Some people claim that a smoking incidence of below five percent is indicative of a smoke-free nation.

    There seemed to be no specific new initiatives aimed at reducing the prevalence of smoking, but Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam was quoted as saying the ministry ‘would be intensifying efforts to empower and promote overall health to assist smokers to kick the unhealthy habit’.

    Subramaniam said the government had carried out various initiatives to combat smoking, including raising the excise duty on cigarettes, requiring that health warnings were displayed on cigarette packs, and banning smoking in almost all public places.

    “We hope the people will heed the message seriously and co-operate with the government to produce a smoking-free nation,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

    The National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2015 showed that 22.8 percent or five million Malaysians aged 15 and above were smokers.

    Most of the smokers were men, and male smokers were said to make up 43 percent of the group actively contributing to national economic growth.

    Subramaniam said that, on average, Malaysians spent about RM178 a month on cigarettes, while the nation needed to spend RM2.92 billion annually in treating those with diseases linked to smoking.

    “Imagine how much Malaysians would save if they stopped smoking,” he added.

  • Smokers are citizens

    Smokers are citizens

    A smokers’ group is calling on the EU to stop treating adult smokers, who make up 26 of the EU’s population, like second-class citizens.

    Forest EU wants the EU to respect the right of smokers to make informed choices about smoking a legal product.

    These demands are contained in the group’s just-published 2017 manifesto, Smokers Are Citizens Too. The document, described as comprehensive and ‘independent’, looks at the policies affecting smokers and considers what alternative policies governments and EU institutions should pursue.

    The 10-page document, which is the size of a pack of cigarettes, tackles issues such as smoking bans, standardized packaging, excessive taxation and youth education.

    In launching the manifesto, Forest EU’s director, Guillaume Périgois, said that one in four, or 100 million, EU adult citizens smoked.

    “Yet, across the EU, smokers are being punished and ostracised for a habit they enjoy,” he said.

    “This has to stop: Adult smokers should be allowed to make the informed choice to consume a legal product without excessive regulations and oppressive taxation.

    “Forest EU calls national governments and EU institutions to stop treating Europe’s smokers like second-class citizens, cut tobacco taxes, focus on education programs in schools and conduct a review of the impact of the Tobacco Products Directive before any additional regulation is attempted.”

    Key elements of the manifesto are:

    • ‘Smokers represent 26 percent of the population in the European Union.
    • ‘Smokers contributed €81 billion to the public budgets in excise duties in 2015.
    • ‘In January 2017 an average of 79.6 percent of the price of a pack of cigarettes in the EU was duties and taxes.
    • ‘If all cigarettes sold on the black market were sold legally, the budget of the EU and its member states would receive above €10 billion annually.’

    Key conclusions of the manifesto are:

    • ‘Stop treating Europe’s adult smokers like second-class citizens and respect their right to make informed choices about smoking a legal product.
    • ‘Reduce the punitive tax on tobacco and stop encouraging illicit trade. Focus on targeted education programs in schools to make sure children are aware of the risks of smoking from a young age.
    • ‘Conduct an evidence-based review of the impact of the revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) and attempt no further legislation on tobacco before the directive has met its objectives.’
  • EU tobacco control poor

    EU tobacco control poor

    EU countries are not doing enough to implement tobacco control policies, according to the Irish MEP Nessa Childers.

    Writing in The Parliament magazine, Childers said the latest available results of the tobacco control scale for 2016, in which Luk Joossens and Martin Raw had ranked 35 European countries on the basis of tobacco-control-policy implementation, had shown that the majority had received a negative mark. This was also the case in respect of EU member states only, ‘albeit by a narrower margin’.

    In the face of ‘scandal-prone lobby onslaughts and court challenges to tobacco advertising legislation and the tobacco products directive’, policy and implementation of measures on the ground remained inadequate, as the tobacco control scale rankings indicated.

    ‘In general terms, inadequacies in implementation of the provisions that survived the tobacco industry’s lobby onslaught, at national and European level, stem from paltry budget allocations to tobacco control policy,’ Childers said. ‘These jar with the overall costs and burden of this epidemic to society.

    ‘EU countries spend less than one euro per capita annually on tobacco control, with some countries even making cuts.’

    Later in her piece, Childers said that the EU Commission deserved praise for its role in securing EU ratification of the protocol to eliminate the illegal trade in tobacco products.

    ‘Indeed, and in line with the tobacco products directive, the fight against smuggling and counterfeiting is a serious matter,’ she said. ‘It must remain in the hands of adequately resourced public bodies, in control of tracking and tracing. It should not subcontract poachers for game-keeping.

    ‘We need to devote greater resources to enforcing tobacco control, expanding the use of plain packaging, steeper taxation, display bans, and proper respect for article 5.3 of the framework convention on tobacco control to shut big tobacco out of public health policymaking.’

    Childers’ piece is at: https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/opinion/tobacco-epidemic-weighing-heavily-europe?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Parliament%20Magazine%20Round-Up&utm_content=Daily%20Parliament%20Magazine%20Round-Up+CID_41fa2833e488946457e60f5ec3d5bb77&utm_source=Email%20newsletters&utm_term=Tobacco%20epidemic%20weighing%20heavily%20on%20Europe

  • Smokers work around TPD

    Smokers work around TPD

    According to the UK’s Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA), new research has shown that even before major changes to the UK tobacco market were due to come into full effect on May 20, people were increasing their purchases of cheap, black market tobacco products.

    ‘In a series of questions put to consumers over the last five months as the new measures were being phased in, the … TMA has tracked the impact of these regulations on smoker behaviour and found a growth in people buying from non-UK duty paid sources,’ the TMA said.

    The key findings of the TMA’s research were:

    • A 14.5 percent increase in smokers buying packs of 20 cigarettes from illicit sources and abroad during the past five months;
    • A 91.7 percent increase in smokers buying larger packs of hand-rolling tobacco from illicit sources and abroad;
    • A 31.6 percent increase in smokers buying online from social media and websites advertising cheap illicit tobacco;
    • A 22.1 percent increase in smokers buying any tobacco product from abroad, thereby avoiding UK duty.

    The survey found, too, that the average price paid for a pack of 20 cigarettes from an illicit supplier was £5.96 – £1.39 less than the £7.35 that the government has used to set the minimum excise tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes.

    “It is clear from this research that plain packaging and the small packs ban, measures imposed by Europe and adopted by the UK government, are already having an impact on smokers’ behaviour as they seek out cheaper alternatives from the black market and abroad,” said Giles Roca, director general of the TMA, commenting on the findings. “It’s no surprise that our research points to a rise in the illicit market – this is exactly what happened in Australia when plain packaging was introduced in 2012.

    “On banning small packs, which are particularly popular in the UK, independent research confirmed that such a move will cost the treasury £2.1 billion in the first year, costing 11,190 jobs whilst even those in public health agree that it will lead to people smoking more, not less, tobacco.

    “On plain packaging, a recent major independent review of 51 studies found no evidence that it acted to prevent youth-uptake – the chief justification why the measure was introduced in the UK. Whilst figures from France, that introduced plain packaging in January 2017, show cigarette consumption actually increased compared to last year when branding was allowed. In March alone the French bought four million packets of cigarettes, over four percent more than during the same period last year.

    “These measures were introduced [in the UK] not based on evidence or hard fact but on the dogma of various health lobby groups. Given these measures originated in Brussels, the government should commit to review each and every one of them following Brexit.”

  • Calling for accountability

    Calling for accountability

    Japan Tobacco International has described the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) as ‘a raft of draconian rules that will impact consumers and businesses across the Union without meeting its intended goals’.

    The comment comes on the eve of the May 20 deadline for all tobacco products on the markets of EU countries to comply with the provisions of the TPD2.

    “This is yet another example of Brussels-led over-regulation,” said Ben Townsend, JTI’s EU affairs vice-president in a note posted on the company’s website.

    “TPD2 will not achieve its public health goals. It will, however, stifle consumer choice and have huge consequences for local economies, jeopardizing thousands of legitimate businesses and employees, from farmers to packaging manufacturers, and tobacco producers to retailers.”

    The press note said that TPD2 mandated a wide-reaching set of measures for products and packaging, including large pictorial health warnings that took up most of the pack surface – dramatically reducing the space available for product information to consumers and brand designs.

    Many pack formats had been banned under the false pretext that this would drive smoking levels lower. This included the prohibition of smaller cigarette packs and fine-cut pouches, which was likely to backfire badly by forcing consumers to buy larger formats and therefore spend more money.

    The Directive would outlaw also menthol cigarettes from 2020.

    “TPD2 is a hugely complex, burdensome and restrictive piece of legislation,” said Townsend. “To top it off, some EU countries were encouraged to go above and beyond TPD2 requirements by introducing even more outlandish measures such as plain packaging. As a result, consumers will come across different regulations for the same product in different countries, which makes a mockery of the European Commission’s original aim to improve the functioning of the internal market”.

    In a statement echoing one from Forest EU, JTI said the Commission’s initial Impact Assessment stated that TPD2 would create a two percent drop in consumption over five years to 2021, but that it had had to acknowledge that this figure was just ‘a best effort estimation’.

    “TPD2 is an attack on legitimate businesses and adult consumers’ freedom of choice,” said Townsend.

    “Even the President of the Commission recently said that they are wrong in over-regulating and that one of the reasons citizens are stepping away from the European project is that EU law-makers are interfering in too many domains of their private lives.

    “It’s time for Brussels bureaucrats to listen; they must be held accountable when the review of the Directive is published in 2021.”

  • Time for EU to reflect

    Time for EU to reflect

    Forest EU, which campaigns for smokers’ rights in Europe, has called for a hold to be put on tobacco legislation until it has been established whether the regulations introduced as part of the revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) have worked.

    The organization has issued its call ahead of the May 20 deadline for EU countries to no longer allow on their markets tobacco products that aren’t compliant with the provisions of TPD2.

    The call follows and to some extent echoes a statement by Forest UK that the TPD2 regulations coming into force ‘infantilise’ consumers and will make no difference to public health (see New rules seen as infantile, May 17). But it also widens the debate.

    Guillaume Périgois, director of Forest EU, said in a press note that the TPD2 was introducing new measures intended to combat the illegal trade in tobacco products, including an EU-wide tracking and tracing system for the legal supply chain and a security feature composed of holograms.

    “The measures designed to restrict trade in illegal tobacco are an implicit recognition that over-regulation encourages counterfeiting and smuggling of tobacco, with all the harmful side effects this causes, including boosting organised crime and the availability of low quality products,” said Périgois.

    The press note said that in December 2012, the European Commission adopted its proposal to revise the previous EU Tobacco Products Directive, or TPD1, following a public consultation that had generated 85,000 responses, the majority of which opposed the key measures featured in the proposal.

    ‘The accompanying Impact Assessment asserted that the proposal will create a two percent drop in consumption (representing around 2.4 million smokers, compared to the 100 million adult smokers in the EU) within five years after the transposition (i.e. 2021), but the Commission acknowledges that this figure is just “a best effort estimation”,’ the note said.

    “The new regulations are a disgraceful attempt to denormalize both the product and legitimate consumers,” said Périgois.

    “The European smokers opposed TPD1 then and they oppose TPD2 now.

    “There’s no evidence they will have the slightest impact on public health.”

    Forest EU said it was calling for a ‘neutral’ review of the impact of TPD2.

    “The EU should attempt no further legislation on tobacco before we know how this directive has worked,” said Périgois.

    “This will give the EU a chance to review the impact of these policies and, where necessary, amend or repeal regulations that deliberately discriminate against 100 million adult consumers.”

  • New rules seen as infantile

    New rules seen as infantile

    The smokers’ group Forest says that new tobacco regulations coming into force in the UK ‘infantilise’ consumers and will make no difference to public health.

    The new rules, which must be fully implemented by this weekend, include a minimum pack size of 20 cigarettes, a minimum pouch size of 30g of rolling tobacco, a ban on branded packaging for cigarettes and rolling tobacco, and the imposition of larger health warnings.

    “The new regulations treat adults like naughty children, said Simon Clark, the director of Forest, which campaigns for smokers’ rights. “They infantilise consumers by attacking freedom of choice and personal responsibility.

    “Adults and even teenagers are under no illusions about the health risks of smoking. Consumers don’t need larger health warnings to tell them what they already know.

    “Banning smaller packs is a pathetic attempt to target the less well-off in the hope they will be forced to quit, but smokers will soon adapt and buy the larger packs instead.

    “If you’re trying to cut down it will be harder now because the option of buying a smaller number of cigarettes has been taken away.”

    Clark was scathing also about standardized packaging.

    He described as absurd the idea that people smoked because of the packaging and said there was no evidence that plain packaging had any impact on youth smoking rates, and without such evidence there was no justification for the policy.

    “The new regulations are a disgraceful attempt to denormalize both the product and legitimate consumers,” Clark said.

    “There’s no evidence they will have the slightest impact on public health.

    “Politicians and tobacco control campaigners are grasping at straws if they think people will give up something they enjoy just because the packaging has changed.”

    Clark said the new government [the UK is holding a general election next month] should review the measures as soon as the UK has left the European Union.

    “With the exception of plain packaging all these regulations were imposed on the UK by the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive,” he said.

    “Brexit will give the government the chance to review the impact of these policies and, where necessary, amend or repeal regulations that deliberately discriminate against millions of adult consumers.”

  • Warnings up to 90 percent

    Warnings up to 90 percent

    The government of Nepal is aiming to require that tobacco manufacturers include 90-percent graphic health warnings on their products from 2018, according to a story in The Kathmandu Post

    The requirement would be aimed at discouraging tobacco consumption.

    But it was not clear from the story how far along the road were plans for the new warnings.

    Addressing an event in the capital entitled, the South Asian leadership training for the control of tobacco products, the Minister for Health, Gagan Kumar Thapa, said the Nepal government aimed to build a tobacco-free generation by 2030.

    He said he believed that requiring graphic health warnings on tobacco products would reduce demand for such products and contribute to creating a healthier society.

    And he added that those warnings should take up 90 percent the packaging – presumably 90 percent of the main surfaces.

    At the same time, on the recommendation of the World Bank and the World Health Organization, the government is said to be planning to hike excise duty and value added tax for tobacco products.

    The minister said also that the government was working to raise the minimum legal age to 21 years for buying and using tobacco products, a provision that would be in place by 2018.

  • WTO upholds plain packs

    WTO upholds plain packs

    Australia’s standardized tobacco packaging law has been upheld by the World Trade Organization after a five-year legal battle, according to a story by Tom Miles and Martinne Geller for Reuters.

    The Reuters story cited a Bloomberg news report that, in turn, cited ‘two people familiar with the situation’.

    Although the WTO’s ruling is not expected to be made public until July, a ‘confidential draft’ said Australia’s laws were a legitimate public health measure, Bloomberg was said to have reported.

    A spokeswoman for British American declined to comment on the ruling until it was made public, but suggested the complainants would keep fighting.

    “As there is a high likelihood of an appeal by some or all of the parties, it’s important to note that this panel report is not the final word on whether plain packaging is consistent with international law,” she said.

    A spokeswoman for Japan Tobacco also declined to comment on the ruling, but said the fact that the draft had been leaked was disconcerting and a breach of WTO rules.

    “Such breaches completely undermine the integrity of the process, which has not yet run its full course,” she said.

    The Reuters story said that the plodding pace of WTO decision-making prompted Australia, which had the backing of the World Health Organization, to complain that its challengers were deliberately stalling the proceedings, producing a ‘regulatory chilling’ effect on other countries wishing to follow its example.

    Nevertheless, such a ruling from the WTO is likely to be interpreted as giving a green light for other countries to introduce similar laws in respect of tobacco products.

    It could have implications also for other products deemed to cause health problems, such as alcohol, junk food and sugary drinks.