Constitutional Court favors Broadcasting Law on cigarette ads

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 09/10/2009 5:03 PM  |  National

The Constitutional Court issued a verdict on Thursday in favor of the Broadcasting Law that legalizes cigarette advertisements.

The verdict stipulated that cigarette advertisements would still be legal as long as the cigarette was not banned.

"We reject the request from the plaintiff," Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD said as quoted by kompas.com

The plaintiff is the Children Protection National Commission, which filed the review last month due to a view that cigarette advertisements have encouraged children to smoke.

Four out of nine judges gave their dissenting opinions.

The four judges said that cigarette industry negatively impacted the public.

"Children must be protected from the industry through a series of policies," Judge Marruar Sirait sad.

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