Big tobacco insists plain packs are bad

15 Aug 2012, 12:56 pm   -   Source: AAP

British American Tobacco says "serious unintended consequences" will arise from plain packaging laws, deemed valid by the High Court.

British American Tobacco Australia says it respects a High Court ruling backing a world-first plain packaging push, but insists the "bad law" will lead to a spike in illegal cigarette sales.

The court on Wednesday ruled the commonwealth could force all tobacco products to be sold in drab olive-brown packs from December.

BATA spokesman Scott McIntyre says that will have "serious unintended consequences".

"The illegal cigarette black market will grow further when all packs look the same and are easier to copy," he said in a statement.

"Although the (legislation) passed the constitutional test, it's still a bad law that will only benefit organised crime groups which sell illegal tobacco on our streets."

Mr McIntyre said plain packaging also would put pressure on the industry to reduce legal tobacco prices as companies competed on price rather than brand name.

BATA said even though it still believed the government had no right to remove its intellectual property, it would comply "with this and every other law".

"We'll ensure our products comply with the plain packaging requirements and implementation dates," Mr McIntyre said.

Chief Justice Robert French on Wednesday said a majority of the High Court found the government's legislation did not involve an acquisition of big tobacco's property under the commonwealth constitution.

The court ordered BATA, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco Australia to pay the commonwealth's legal costs.

Big tobacco previously had argued plain packaging was unconstitutional because it "extinguished" their brands and logos without compensation.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the tobacco companies' arguments about increased counterfeiting and cut-price cigarettes "just don't stand up to scrutiny".

"The fact this (plain) packaging looks like this now doesn't make it easier to counterfeit," she told reporters in Canberra.

"We still have allowed information including things like alphanumeric coding that will show whether cigarette packets are genuine or not."

Ms Plibersek said big tobacco's figures regarding illegal cigarette sales were "questionable" anyway and vastly overstated the numbers.

When it came to the argument about cut-price cigarettes, the health minister said big tobacco was essentially "admitting they need to recruit young people who are price-sensitive".

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