GENEVA, Dec. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Dominican Republic today highlights its growing concerns about the adverse impact of Australia's plain packaging to its economy and urges for a swift resolution of the dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Two years after implementation, plain packaging remains a bad public policy with no impact on public health, while distorting competition in the marketplace. The Dominican Republic and four other counties – Ukraine, Honduras, Indonesia and Cuba – are challenging Australia's plain packaging measure under the rules of the WTO's well-established dispute settlement system.
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"By stripping our brands and trademarks from packaging, the policy precludes our tobacco producers from differentiating their premium products from competitors in the marketplace, which has been extremely detrimental to our industry," said Dr. Katrina Naut, the Dominican Republic's Director General of Foreign Trade. "It is our hope that this case will be swiftly resolved at the WTO before other countries consider similar policies that have no impact on public health goals while at the same time putting the livelihood of our economy at risk."
Since 1 December 2012, all tobacco products in Australia are sold in plain packaging, in a standardized drab brown color, with the brand and variant name in a standardized font and place, banning all logos or other design features. By preventing tobacco products from using their trademarks and geographical indications, these measures have driven the Australian tobacco market towards commoditization and illicit trade. Moreover, they have failed to contribute to reducing smoking in Australia.
Dominican producers have made enormous investments – including in intellectual property – to turn the Dominican Republic from a simple tobacco leaf exporter into one of the world's leading premium tobacco products exporters. This is a significant achievement for a small developing economy and has contributed to its economic growth. With plain packaging, this great development success is put at risk as our producers can no longer signal their premium quality to tobacco consumers.
Recognizing that the outcome of these disputes will impact intellectual property protection for a wide range of consumer goods, a record number of WTO members (35 countries and the EU) are observers of the disputes. Similar restrictions to trademarks are already being considered as means of curbing consumption of a variety of products around the world.
About the Dominican tobacco industry
Tobacco has been cultivated in the Dominican Republic for more than five centuries and the Dominican tobacco industry is more than one hundred years old. Tobacco export revenues represent 7.5 percent of total exports. Tobacco products represent 8.5 percent of fiscal revenue on merchandise taxation. The entire tobacco production chain generates around 110,000 direct jobs and supports approximately 350,000 people, according to information published by the Tobacco Institute of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is the largest exporter of cigars in the world.
