Tobacco firms going to court over plain packs law

Four multinational tobacco companies will this week engage the UK government in a High Court battle over legislation that, as it stands, will require cigarettes to be sold in standardized packs by May next year, according to a story by Ben Martin for the Electronic Telegraph.

British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International will line up against the government on Thursday at the start of a six-day hearing.

Although the companies originally lodged court papers separately, their bids to have standardized tobacco packaging ruled illegal would be heard as one case, wrote Martin. The four companies were co-operating with each other so that each one would present a different argument against the standardized packaging legislation.

A decision is expected by January but, whatever the outcome of the hearing, the side that loses is expected to appeal.

However, any High Court ruling could become irrelevant if the companies win a separate case in Luxembourg in which they are trying to prove that the plain packaging measure adopted by the UK exceeds the provisions of the EU’s Second Tobacco Products Directive.

Martin wrote that the companies were not claiming compensation or costs but that if they succeeded in scrapping the legislation ‘they could receive large payouts’.

It wasn’t clear why they might receive such payouts, which would presumably be paid by taxpayers already hard hit by austerity measures.

In April, one well-placed observer estimated that UK taxpayers could be hit with a bill for £12 billion if the government lost.