World Trade Organization chief expected within days to name three experts on laws of commerce who will serve on panel that will issue ruling on legality of Australia's plain tobacco packaging law, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reports

Elyse Blye

DHAKA, Bangladesh , May 5, 2014 (Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha) – A landmark challenge to Australia's plain-packaging law for cigarettes and cigars at the WTO could have vast implications for how governments square the rules of trade with radical public health measures.

The case against Canberra has been spearheaded by cigar- producing nations Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, which say brandless packaging is an assault on their trading rights.

World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo is expected within days to name a three-member panel of independent experts on the laws of commerce, who will then have six months to issue a ruling on whether Australia is out of line.

"Resolution of this dispute is critical because it will go a long way toward indicating whether the WTO will allow countries to take reasonable actions that are intended to protect the public's health in an equitable and non-discriminatory fashion", Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, told AFP.

The WTO panel was authorised in late April by a closed-door meeting of its dispute settlement body.

The Geneva-based WTO ensures that its 159 member economies respect the rules of global commerce and its panels have the power to authorise counter-measures by the wronged countries, such as raising import tariffs on the guilty party's goods.

An initial ruling would not be the end of the story, however, as the WTO dispute settlement process can grind on for years, amid appeals, counter-appeals and assessments of compliance with rulings.

Australia's law was fought tooth and nail by the tobacco industry before and since its entry into force in December 2012.

But it is lauded by the World Health Organization and campaigners around the globe, who appreciate Canberra's longstanding vanguard role in the fight against tobacco use -- the leading global cause of preventable death, claiming six million lives a year worldwide.

- Key anti-smoking measure -

The legislation requires all tobacco products to be sold in drab green boxes, use the same typeface and contain graphic images of diseased smokers.

Canberra and its supporters argue that by hitting the industry's branding power and by pushing stark messages, the law will help curb the number of smokers, notably young people who might otherwise take up the habit and thereby replenish the industry's customer base.

"Tobacco plain packaging is a legitimate measure designed to achieve a fundamental objective: the protection of public health," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told AFP.

"Australia will vigorously defend the challenges to tobacco plain packaging in the WTO. Australia is confident the tobacco plain packaging measure is consistent with WTO obligations," the spokesperson said.

"Introducing tobacco plain packaging was the next logical step to restrict promotional material on tobacco products, closing one of the few remaining avenues for tobacco advertising in Australia."

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