JTI file legal action against UK plain packaging law

The first of the major tobacco suppliers has made good on its promise to bring legal proceedings against plain packaging laws for cigarettes and tobacco products.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) filed its legal challenge with the High Court in London on Tuesday following a March vote in the House of Commons outlawing branded packs for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco from May next year.

JTI said it strongly considered plain packaging as “unlawful”, and an infringement on “important principles of UK and EU law”.

The company said the rules infringed their fundamental rights, and went against obligations under World Trade Organisation rules.

The company’s UK managing director Daniel Torras said: “We have clearly and repeatedly made clear to the UK Government that plain packaging will infringe our fundamental legal rights without reducing smoking.

“Despite the lack of evidence that plain packaging works, the Government has decided to proceed and JTI must now protect its rights in the courts.”

JTI added that their legal challenge will be about asking the court to affirm the company’s ability to use its property rights in the context of a measure which, in their view, had not worked in Australia and will not work in the UK.

The UK legislation earlier this year came only days after similar laws were passed in the Republic of Ireland, where it is expected further legal action could follow.

Ireland became only the second country in the world to introduce the rules after Australia brought in plain packs in 2012.