Uruguay won its long dispute with tobacco company Philip Morris, who demanded 25 million dollars (nearly 22,5 million euros) in compensation for losses caused by strict local anti-smoking regulations. The Swiss-American giant has been suing this small South American country (2010 million inhabitants) since 3,3 for having notably increased the size of health warnings on cigarette packages.
« The Uruguayan state came out victorious and the claims of the tobacco company were rejected », declared Friday, July 8, the head of state Tabaré Vázquez on television, after the favorable judgment issued by the arbitral tribunal of the World Bank (Ciadi).
« It's a huge victory in (...) the fight for public health »Agence France-Presse (AFP) told Montevideo's lawyer Paul Reichler. This decision will also serve as « previous » for other countries that engage in the fight « against the scourge of tobacco consumption »added the council.
A fierce anti-tobacco opponent, the American billionaire and former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, assured that this announcement showed the states that they could « to compete with the tobacco industry and win ».
The Philip Morris group, based in Switzerland, reacted through the voice of its vice-president Marc Firestone: « For seven years, we have already respected the regulation in question, so today's decision does not change the status quo. »
« We have never questioned Uruguay's authority to protect public health and this case did not concern general issues of tobacco policy »he added, believing that the country's legislation deserved « clarification according to international law ».
Similar reversal in May
In 2006, Uruguay became the first state in Latin America, and the fifth in the world, to ban smoking in public places under the leadership of Mr. Vázquez the oncologist,
president in 2005 and 2010, returned to power in 2015.
Four years later, Philip Morris (PMI) attacked the country for having notably prohibited tobacco companies from selling several variations of the same brand and for having forced them to increase the size of health messages linked to the package to 80% of the surface of the packet. tobacco consumption.
The company estimated that these measures violated the bilateral investment treaty between Switzerland and Uruguay and demanded 25 million dollars from Montevideo for the losses caused. In July 2013, the Ciadi had agreed to let the procedure continue, allowing the complaint to be examined on the merits.
Philip Morris suffered a similar setback in May, when the European Court of Justice (EU) upheld the European Tobacco Directive, rejecting appeals by the tobacco company and Poland against the ban on flavorings such as menthol and standardization of packages.
The group, which no longer has any ongoing litigation regarding the protection of its investments, reiterated its « willingness to meet with representatives of the Uruguayan government, in particular to consider legal frameworks that would allow hundreds of thousands of adult smokers in the country to have access to information on reduced risk alternatives to tobacco ».
Source : The world
