Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v. Philip Morris (Australia) Limited (s86B Undertaking)
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) obtained court-enforceable undertakings from Philip Morris Limited and Philip Morris (Australia) Limited to remove 'light', 'mild' and similar descriptors from their products.
The ACCC conducted an investigation and formed the view that Philip Morris had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by using descriptors on cigarette brands and packaging such as 'light', 'mild', 'medium' etc and numbers (ie. '1','4','7' etc), which represented to consumers that there were health benefits in smoking those products compared to higher yielding or full strength cigarette brands.
Philip Morris provided court-enforceable undertakings to the ACCC pursuant to s86B of the Trade Practices Act to: remove 'light' and 'mild' descriptors and related numbers from all cigarettes produced for Australian consumers from 31 July 2005; not make claims about the health benefits of low yield cigarettes when compared to high yield cigarettes; and pay $4 million to the ACCC to fund anti-smoking information campaigns and programs concerning low yield cigarettes.
The ACCC obtained similar undertakings from British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.
Philip Morris (Australia) Limited undertaking to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission given for the purposes of section 87B of the Trade Practices Act
Government, through its agencies and officials including prosecutors, may seek to enforce its health laws. For example, the government may revoke the license of a retailer that sells tobacco products to minors. These cases may also directly involve the tobacco industry, for example, a government might impound and destroy improperly labeled cigarette packs.
Measures to regulate the marketing on tobacco packages. This includes both bans on false, misleading, deceptive packaging, as well as required health warnings on packaging.
(See FCTC Art. 11)
Any violation of a law designed to ensure fair trade, competition, or the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. For example, a government may require businesses to disclose detailed information about products—particularly in areas where safety or public health is an issue.
The tobacco industry may have perpetrated a fraud upon the public or the courts by presenting false information or deliberately hiding known-facts.
Type of Tobacco Product
None
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
"The Commission considers that by making one or more of the Representations, Philip Morris has: (a) engaged in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive in contravention of section 52 of the Act; (b) falsely represented that Low Yield Cigarettes are of a particular standard, quality, value, grade, composition, style or model in contravention of section 53 (a) of the Act; (c) represented that the Low Yield Cigarettes have performance characteristics or benefits which they do not have, in contravention of section 53(c) of the Act; (d) engaged in conduct that is likely to mislead the public in contravention of section 55 of the Act."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) obtained court-enforceable undertakings from Philip Morris Limited and Philip Morris (Australia) Limited to remove 'light', 'mild' and similar descriptors from their products.
The ACCC conducted an investigation and formed the view that Philip Morris had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by using descriptors on cigarette brands and packaging such as 'light', 'mild', 'medium' etc and numbers (ie. '1','4','7' etc), which represented to consumers that there were health benefits in smoking those products compared to higher yielding or full strength cigarette brands.
Philip Morris provided court-enforceable undertakings to the ACCC pursuant to s86B of the Trade Practices Act to: remove 'light' and 'mild' descriptors and related numbers from all cigarettes produced for Australian consumers from 31 July 2005; not make claims about the health benefits of low yield cigarettes when compared to high yield cigarettes; and pay $4 million to the ACCC to fund anti-smoking information campaigns and programs concerning low yield cigarettes.
The ACCC obtained similar undertakings from British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco.