Big Tobacco Cries Foul.

Foreign Policy In Focus, March 4, 2010
Philip Morris vs. Uruguay
By Juan Antonio Montecino and Rebecca Dreyfus

Philip Morris International believes Uruguay is Marlboro Country. On February 19, the tobacco giant filed a lawsuit against that country, charging that new health measures involving cigarette packaging amount to unfair treatment of the company.

Uruguay’s new legislation, submitted in June 2009 and expected to go into effect in
March 2010, requires that 80 percent of each side of cigarette boxes be covered by graphic images of the possible detrimental health effects of smoking. The company argues that the law limits the space for branding and thus infringes on its intellectual property rights.

These requirements are nothing new in Uruguay or elsewhere the world. Before this law, Uruguay had legislation that required 50 percent of each side of the box contain health warnings. Although health-warning laws in other countries vary, they have been around for many years. Brazil, for example, requires that 100 percent of one side of cigarette boxes feature health warnings, while in Australia the measures go even further, requiring a warning on 30 percent of the front and 90 percent of the back.

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