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RI loses landmark WTO tobacco packaging case
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Prime product -- A worker collects cigarettes at a factory in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday. East Java governor Soekarwo said 6.1 million people in the province depended on tobacco as a livelihood. (thejakartapost.com/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
Tobacco has something only few other products do: addictive properties.
This goes some way to explaining why the tobacco industry is so resilient and why its businesses are upbeat about their prospects, both locally and globally, despite the World Trade Organization (WTO) reportedly willing to allow countries to undermine the cigarette industry over their packaging.
Indonesia and other tobacco-producing countries, such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, filed a WTO complaint against Australia for what they see as illegal trade barriers by mandating plain packaging.
Bloomberg reported — citing two people familiar with the situation — that the WTO supported Australia as the first country in the world to apply a plain packaging rule, as it deems the rule a legitimate public health measure. The official decision is expected to be announced in July.
The initial notification of the ruling was circulated to the parties of the dispute on May 2, according to a spokesman for the WTO who declined to comment on its content, Bloomberg reported.
The decision could usher in a new wave of global tobacco restrictions from other countries that have sought to deter smoking among their citizens through the use of plain packaging rules.
Nevertheless, Indonesian businesspeople remain optimistic about the tobacco trade, betting their cigarettes will maintain their distinctive nature and “loyalty” among consumers.
