Tobacco Standardised Packaging Bill Passes

9 September 2016

Intellectual Property Law

Smoke-Free Environments (Tobacco Standardised Packaging) Amendment Bill passes third and final reading

Tobacco will include standardised brown or green packaging and mandatory health warnings, as the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Standardised Packaging) Amendment Bill passed its third and final reading last night.

Under the new restrictions, marketing imagery will not be permitted, although companies will still be allowed to use restricted brand names on packaging.

Tobacco companies and other members of the trade mark community have previously voiced their concerns that the use of intellectual property, including registered trademarks, will be unduly restricted by the introduction of plain packaging.

Concerns have also been raised that plain packaging for tobacco, a legal product, creates a dangerous precedent for future governments to force other legal products into plain packages.

The New Zealand Government has considered these issues in light of the decision in a claim brought by tobacco firm Philip Morris against the Australian Government in relation to Australia's plain packaging legislation.

The Australian Government successfully defended its plain packaging legislation, and while the claim brought by tobacco-producing countries via the World Trade Organisation is continuing, the New Zealand Government received advice that it was on a "firm footing" to progress plain packaging on the basis that other countries, such as Ireland and the United Kingdom, had introduced it.

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