No Decision On WTO Plain Packaging Dispute Before May 2017

The much-awaited decision of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body on Australia’s law requiring that tobacco products be sold in plain packages, challenged by four countries, has been postponed and is now expected “not before May 2017.”

A decision had been said to be expected in 2016.

A 1 December communication [pdf] addressed to the chairperson of the Dispute Settlement Body by the chairperson of the panel tasked with reaching a decision said that “in light of the complexity of the legal and factual issues that arise in this dispute,” the panel now expects to issue its final report to the parties not before May 2017.

The Panel in “Australia – Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging (WT/DS467)” was established by the Dispute Settlement Body on 26 March 2014 and composed on 5 May 2014, according to the communication.

On 29 June 2016, the Panel communicated to the DSB that the final report was expected not before the end of 2016, the communication said. However, it became clear, as the deadline approached that the decision might not be delivered by the end of the year (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 26 July 2016).

Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Act of December 2011, implemented in December 2012, was originally challenged by five countries (Ukraine, Honduras, The Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Indonesia) at the WTO on the grounds of violation of international trade rules, including those on intellectual property such as trademark and geographical indications, and on technical barriers to trade. Ukraine dropped out of the case in May.

Image Credits: Wikia