Plain Packaging of Cigarettes and Constitutional Property Rights

Abstract

Australia is the first country in the world to take steps to require that tobacco products be sold in plain packaging.1 On 6 July 2011, the government introduced the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 (the Bill or the plain packaging legislation) into the House of Representatives, with the intention that it be passed during the Winter 2011 Parliamentary sitting and in force by 1 January 2012. The Bill would allow regulations to be made to prevent tobacco manufacturers applying their trademarks to the packaging of tobacco products manufactured or sold in Australia, with the exception that brand and product names could be used in a prescribed font and within a specified place on the packaging. Importantly, such products will not be able to be labeled using device trademarks or word trademarks in a stylised font or script. In addition, the packaging must be in a plain colour (‘drab dark brown’2) without any other decoration. Under the proposed measure, plain‐packaging will only apply to material likely to be encountered by the retail customer and, therefore, will not apply to wholesale or shipping packaging.

JEL Classification: K00, K39