Alemanno and Bonadio on Plain Packaging of Cigarettes Under EU Law

Plain Packaging of Cigarettes Under EU Law

Alberto Alemanno 

HEC Paris - Law Department

Enrico Bonadio 

City University London - The City Law School; City University London
2012

Chapter in Andrew Mitchell, Tania Voon and Jonathan Liberman (eds.), "Public Health and Plain Packaging of Cigarettes: Legal Issues" (Edward Elgar, UK, 2012) 
Abstract:      
Following Australia’s move towards mandatory ‘plain packaging’ of cigarettes, also the European Union is considering to adopt a similar tobacco control policy pending the ongoing revision of its tobacco products directive. This chapter provides a first-time detailed examination of the legality of plain packaging of cigarettes under EU law by exploring how such a policy might fare in the EU political and legal context. Although the analysis predominantly focuses on the adoption of a EU-wide plain packaging scheme, it also discusses the legal implications stemming from the more likely adoption of similar schemes at the national level. In the absence of a draft proposal by the EU Commission, which is expected in early 2013, the analysis is largely speculative and takes as a point of reference the scheme of plain packaging recently adopted in Australia . In particular the analysis focuses on the EU competence to enact plain packaging (‘legal basis’) as well as on its compatibility with the proportionality principle, trademark regime and fundamental rights.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 18

Keywords: Risk regulation, Tobacco, plain packaging,TRIPS, WTO, FCTC

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2185289