British American Tobacco v. Tobacco and Alcohol Markets Regulatory Authority

British American Tobacco (BAT) requested the cancellation and stay of execution of a by-law giving the Turkish tobacco regulatory agency the authority to regulate warning labels. BAT also challenged the agency's regulation requiring combined warnings to cover not less than sixty-five percent of the surface on which they are placed. The Court upheld the agency's authority to determine packaging and labeling regulations, but granted the stay of execution of the regulation requiring combined warnings to cover not less than sixty-five percent of the area since it contradicts another law setting the lower limit at thirty to forty percent.

B.A.T. v. Tobacco and Alcohol Markets Regulatory Authority, 2009/5805, Thirteenth Court Circuit, Turkey (2009).

  • Turkey
  • Dec 1, 2009
  • Thirteenth Court of the Council of State
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Parties

Plaintiff British American Tobacco

Defendant Tobacco and Alcohol Markets Regulatory Authority

Legislation Cited

Law No. 4207 on Prevention and Control of Hazards of Tobacco Products (as amended)

Law No. 4733 on the Market of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Alcohol (as amended)

Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authoritys (TAPDK) Decision No. 4721

By-Law Regarding Principles and Procedures for Methods of Production, Labeling and Inspection of Tobacco Products in View of Protection against Their Harms.

International/Regional Instruments Cited

Related Documents

Type of Litigation

Tobacco Control Topics

Substantive Issues

Type of Tobacco Product

None

"As it can be seen from the regulations mentioned above, with regard to the minimum space for warnings which need to be put on packets of tobacco products produced in Turkey or imported, a lower limit has been set and no limit has been set for the upper limit. However, regulations provide that combined warnings shall cover not less than forty percent of the outer surface remaining from the outer surface covered by the general warning. In this regard, the rule introduced in Paragraph 3 of the Article 3 of the Decree of TAPDK providing that the surface area of combined warnings, including their black border, must cover not less than sixty five percent (65 %) of the total area of the surface they are placed on, is found to be in contradiction of the Law No. 4207 as it obliterates the lower limit set out in the Law and in the By‐Law. The other paragraphs of Article 3 of the Decree of TAPDK do not contain any provisions which are found to be in contradiction of the law. For the reasons explained above, the court has decided unanimously to reject the request of stay of execution of Paragraph 10 of Article 7 of the By‐Law Regarding Principles and Procedures for Methods of Production, Labeling and Inspection of Tobacco Products in View of Protection against Their Harms, as well as the request of stay of execution of the paragraphs of Article 3 of the Decree of TAPDK dated 13 May 2009 and numbered 4721, with the exception of Paragraph 3, and the court has decided by majority vote for stay of execution of Paragraph 3 of Article 3 of the aforesaid Decree of TAP."