International trade law, plain packaging and tobacco industry political activity: the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Fooks, Gary; Gilmore, Anna

doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050869

Cited by 53 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…They can limit access to affordable medicines and shape other domestic health and social policies by allowing private investors to challenge public laws in nondomestic fora (36). Compounding these concerns is the fact that not all regional FTAs include the WTO exception provisions, which allow member states to implement policies that protect human and environmental health (3,35).…”

Section: The Evolving Trade Landscape the Twentieth-century Trade Tramentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade Policy and Public Health

Friel

Hattersley

Townsend

2015

Annu. Rev. Public Health

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Twenty-first-century trade policy is complex and affects society and population health in direct and indirect ways. Without doubt, trade policy influences the distribution of power, money, and resources between and within countries, which in turn affects the natural environment; people's daily living conditions; and the local availability, quality, affordability, and desirability of products (e.g., food, tobacco, alcohol, and health care); it also affects individuals' enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. In this article, we provide an overview of the modern global trade environment, illustrate the pathways between trade and health, and explore the emerging twenty-first-century trade policy landscape and its implications for health and health equity. We conclude with a call for more interdisciplinary research that embraces complexity theory and systems science as well as the political economy of health and that includes monitoring and evaluation of the impact of trade agreements on health.

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Section: The Evolving Trade Landscape the Twentieth-century Trade Tramentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade Policy and Public Health

Friel

Hattersley

Townsend

2015

Annu. Rev. Public Health

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“…In 1997, the Doggett Amendment was passed by the US congress, barring personnel from the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State from promoting tobacco abroad, a provision extended to all US executive branch agencies by President Clinton in 2001 24. While in practice the US has continued to act to liberalise tobacco markets,25 there has been renewed pressure to exclude tobacco from current trade negotiations such as that for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement 26 27…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tobacco control and the World Trade Organization: mapping member states’ positions after the framework convention on tobacco control

2015

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Objective To note the frequency of discussions and disputes about tobacco control measures at the World Trade Organization (WTO) before and after the coming into force of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). To review trends or patterns in the positions taken by members of the WTO with respect to tobacco control measures. To discuss possible explanations for these observed trends/patterns. Methods We gathered data on tobacco related disputes in the WTO since its establishment in 1995 and its forerunner, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), prior- and post-FCTC. We also looked at debates on tobacco control measures within the WTO more broadly. To this end, we classified and coded the positions of WTO member states during discussions on tobacco control and the FCTC, from 1995 until 2013, within the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council. Results There is a growing interest within the WTO for tobacco related issues and opposition to tobacco control measures is moving away from high-income countries towards low(er) income countries. Conclusion The growing prominence of tobacco issues in the WTO can be attributed at least in part to the fact that during the last decade tobacco firms have been marginalised from the domestic policy-making process in many countries, which has forced them to look for other ways and forums to influence decision-making. Furthermore, the finding that almost all recent opposition within the WTO to stronger tobacco regulations came from developing countries is consistent with a relative shift of transnational tobacco companies’ lobbying efforts from developed to developing countries.

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“…State-to-state adjudication is the only option available in relation to trade obligations. ISDS is generally seen as a greater cause of regulatory chill than trade disputes because its outcomes are more difficult to predict and the remedies available could have a greater economic impact on the legislating state 34. This paper focuses on ISDS, as the greatest threat to the regulatory autonomy of states.…”

Section: Legal Analysis Of Options To Protect Regulatory Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting the autonomy of states to enact tobacco control measures under trade and investment agreements

Mitchell

Sheargold

2014

Tobacco Control

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Since the adoption of the WHO's WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, governments have been pursuing progressively stronger and more wide-reaching tobacco control measures. In response, tobacco companies are frequently using international trade and investment agreements as tools to challenge domestic tobacco control measures. Several significant new trade and investment agreements that some fear may provide new legal avenues to the tobacco industry to challenge health measures are currently under negotiation, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (a 12 party agreement of Asia-Pacific regional countries) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (an agreement between the USA and the European Union). This commentary examines different options for treaty provisions that the parties could employ in these agreements to minimise legal risks relating to tobacco control measures. It recommends that parties take a comprehensive approach, combining provisions that minimise the potential costs of litigation with provisions that increase the likelihood of a state successfully defending tobacco control measures in such litigation.

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International trade law, plain packaging and tobacco industry political activity: the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Cited by 53 publications

References 55 publications

Trade Policy and Public Health

Trade Policy and Public Health

Tobacco control and the World Trade Organization: mapping member states’ positions after the framework convention on tobacco control

Protecting the autonomy of states to enact tobacco control measures under trade and investment agreements

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