Plain packaging lawsuit threats

Imperial Tobacco

Duncan Cunningham, head of UK corporate & legal affairs, said:

“We remain clear that the introduction of plain packaging legislation would be a mistake. The evidence from Australia demonstrates that it won’t change consumption trends or reduce youth smoking but will play into the hands of criminals who profit from illicit trade.  This policy is bad for business.

“If plain packaging passes into law, we would regrettably be left with no choice but to defend our legal rights in court as we have a fundamental right to differentiate our brands from those of our competitors.”

British American Tobacco

Ronald Ridderbeekx, head of corporate and regulatory affairs, said:

"We are disappointed that the House of Commons today voted to approve regulations to implement plain packaging in the UK.

"We have always made it clear to the UK Government that the measure is unlikely to achieve its public health goals, but that it risks increasing the illegal tobacco market, takes choice away from consumers and damages thousands of small retail businesses.

"We have strongly supported retailers in their efforts to draw the attention of politicians to the likely impact of plain packaging on them. Retailers are busy preparing to implement the retail display ban at great cost and disruption.  Though a majority of MPs have ignored the valid arguments of retailers, many have shown understanding of the challenges that retailers face. To see 113 MPs vote against the regulations is proof that the message got through.

"We will now commence a legal challenge against the UK Government on the basis that plain packaging violates a number of UK, EU and International laws and illegally takes our valuable property from us."

JTI

Daniel Torras, Managing Director at JTI UK said:

“This divisive legislation has been rushed through Parliament, with little regard for proper scrutiny and debate. Regulators have disregarded the results of public consultations, evidence reviews and impact assessments, not to mention the overlap with other legislation such as the ban on displaying tobacco in shops and the wide-ranging EU Tobacco Products Directive. The Government is using the General Election as the finishing line and has hurried this policy along, stifling debate among MPs and giving little opportunity for opposing views to be aired.”

This is a cut-and-paste copycat policy from Australia, where plain packaging has not worked. It’s putting politics before process, evidence and debate. We consider this legislation to be unlawful, JTI therefore expects to challenge the legislation through the legal channels available to us.

Torras continues, “We have repeatedly warned policy-makers that plain packaging is a smugglers’ charter. The organized crime gangs behind the global black market in illegal tobacco welcome this legislation, which will provide them with a blue-print for counterfeiting cigarettes. Illegal tobacco funds serious crime and terrorism, it steals trade from legal businesses and makes cheap unregulated cigarettes accessible to children. The black market is a huge problem and plain packaging will make it much worse.”