Tobacco giant Philip Morris has lost a major international legal battle to reverse Australia’s plain packaging laws by using the Australia–Hong Kong Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) of 1993. On 17 December 2015, a three-member arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Philip Morris had no jurisdiction to bring the case against Australia. This means that Australia’s plain packaging laws, which ban all branding from cigarette packets, will remain in force.
In 2011, Australia enacted the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act and enforced regulations that prohibit the display of brand trademarks, logos and designs on cigarette packets. Under …read more
ISDS Arbitration Upholds Australia’s Plain Packaging Laws
