The Gillard government has claimed a historic High Court victory over the tobacco giants, paving the way for cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging by December.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the decision today to uphold world-first plain packaging laws was a watershed moment for tobacco control around the globe.
“Tobacco companies should now stop trying to stymie this reform internationally and get on with implementing this important change,” she said.
“The message to the rest of the world is big tobacco can be taken on and beaten. Without brave governments willing to take the fight up to big tobacco, they’d still have us believing that tobacco is neither harmful nor addictive.”
The big tobacco companies had argued the laws amounted to an acquisition of their valuable trademarks without proper compensation.The laws mandate that cigarettes be sold in drab olive-green packs and ban all commercial logos. Packs will be distinguishable only by printed brand names in a standard font and size.
A majority of the High Court this morning rejected the tobacco companies' challenge to the laws.
In a statement this morning the court said: “At least a majority of the Court is of the opinion that the (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Act is not contrary to s 51(xxxi) (of the Constitution).”
The tobacco companies have been ordered to pay the commonwealth’s legal cost, which Ms Roxon said had run into the millions of dollars.
“I am very happy that tobacco companies will be paying that amount rather than taxpayers,” she said.
Ms Roxon and Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government would not be applying the laws to other products.
“This is a measure that is for tobacco it is not a measure that is for other products,” Ms Roxon said.
The full reasons for the decision, which was being watched closely around the world, will be published later in the year.
British American Tobacco spokesman Scott McIntyre said the company was disappointed in the court's decision, but would comply with the law.
"Although the (law) passed the constitutional test, it's still a bad law that will only benefit organised crime groups which sell illegal tobacco on our streets,'' McIntyre said in a statement.
''... The illegal cigarette black market will grow further when all packs look the same and are easier to copy.''
Ms Roxon said the plain packaging laws were a vital preventative public health measure, which removed the last way for tobacco companies to promote their products.
“This decision is a relief for every parent who worries about their child picking up this deadly and addictive habit,” she said.
The major tobacco companies, British American Tobacco Australia, Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco, will now turn their sights overseas, where they have launched separate legal challenges to the government's laws.The tobacco companies have filed an international arbitration claim based on the Australia-Hong Kong bilateral treaty and begun a World Trade Organisation dispute process via member countries Ukraine and Honduras.
Under the laws approved by federal parliament last year, the plain packs must be used from December.
Jonathan Liberman, director of the McCabe Center for Law and Cancer, told reporters outside the court that the ruling would inspire other countries to take the same measures against tobacco companies.
"It shows to everybody that the only way to deal with the tobacco industry's claims, saber rattling and legal threats is to stare them down in court,'' he said.
"It's a fantastic decision for public health in Australia."
Anti-smoking organisations chorused their delight at the decision, which the Australian Council on Smoking and Health said would have global ramifications.
Its president Mike Daube, who chaired the government's expert committee that recommended plain packaging, said global tobacco companies opposed plain packaging ferociously because they knew other countries would follow Australia's lead.
"We know from the companies' own internal documents that packaging is a crucial part of their marketing,'' Professor Daube said in a statement.
"They have now lost their last means of promoting smoking to adults and children. This truly is a life-saving victory for public health.''
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