Philip Morris (Thailand) Limited et al. v. Ministry of Public Health
Tobacco manufacturers brought case to stop the Minister of Public Health from implementing a rule that would expand the size of the combined picture and text health warnings from 55% to 85% of the front and back of cigarette packaging. The tobacco companies argued, among other things, that the Minister lacked the legal authority to make the rule, the rule infringed on their property rights, and that the rule did not meet necessity and proportionality standards under administrative law. The court granted a temporary injunction, preventing implementation of the larger health warnings until the court issues a final decision on the merits of the case.
Philip Morris (Thailand) Limited et al. v. Ministry of Public Health, Central Administrative Court, Black Case No. 1324/2556, Aug. 23, 2013.
Tobacco companies or front groups may challenge any legislative or regulatory measure that affects their business interests. Unlike public interest litigation, these cases seek to weaken health measures. These cases frequently involve the industry proceeding against the government. For example, a group of restaurant owners challenging a smoke free law as unconstitutional.
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)
A violation of the right to procedural fairness. For example, a party may claim that a government agency did not consult with public or stakeholders when issuing regulations.
A violation of property rights, sometimes in the form of an expropriation or a taking by the government. The tobacco industry may argue that regulations amount to a taking of property rights because they prevent the use of intellectual property such as trademarks.
Regulations may infringe on intellectual property rights, which may be protected by international treaties. The industry may argue that bans on "deceptive" packaging that eliminate the use of colors, numbers or trademarks threaten intellectual property rights.
The WHO FCTC Guidelines are not mandatory for Parties and merely suggest policies, or a discussion on the effect of the Guidelines on national legislation.
The court might consider procedural matters without touching the merits of the case. These might include: improper joinder, when third parties, such as Health NGOs or government officials, seek to become parties to the suit; lack of standing, where a plaintiff fails to meet the minimum requirements to bring suit; lack of personal jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction to rule over the defendant; or lack of subject matter jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction over the issue at suit.
Regulatory measures consisting of political actions designed to punish the tobacco industry or tobacco users. The industry may argue such arbitrary and capricious regulations will fail to achieve the stated objective. They may also argue that the measures are too extreme, prohibitively expensive, and violate the principle of proportionality.
A discussion on whether the regulations impose an undue burden on the tobacco industry. This argument may involve the costs of implementing regulatory measures.
Type of Tobacco Product
None
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"Whether the setting of these rules exceeded the lawful scope of authority, whether the rules conformed to the principles of necessity and proportionality, and whether the rules infringe rights in trademarks are matters which the Court must decide later. At this stage, we note that the requirements have problems with legality in several areas, such as expansion of the images from an area of 55 percent of the front and back of the pack to 85 percent. The two Defendants claim that the expansion is on the authority of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of 2003 (FCTC) without regard to impacts or damages that may occur, without regard to whether the said requirements are an excessive burden upon the two Plaintiffs, without regard to whether the requirements will actually achieve their goals or confer benefits on consumers commensurate with the damage suffered by the two Plaintiffs."
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.
Tobacco manufacturers brought case to stop the Minister of Public Health from implementing a rule that would expand the size of the combined picture and text health warnings from 55% to 85% of the front and back of cigarette packaging. The tobacco companies argued, among other things, that the Minister lacked the legal authority to make the rule, the rule infringed on their property rights, and that the rule did not meet necessity and proportionality standards under administrative law. The court granted a temporary injunction, preventing implementation of the larger health warnings until the court issues a final decision on the merits of the case.