The TBT Agreement and Tobacco Control Regulations

Abstract

The panel and the Appellate Body have recently examined one of the national tobacco control measures (US – Measures Affecting the Productions and Sale of Clove Cigarettes). The dispute, which emerged between the United States and Indonesia, concerned the US ban on the use of certain flavouring additives in cigarettes. The reports are particularly important because they clarify the limits existing under the TBT Agreement in this policy space. This paper critically analyses findings of the WTO dispute settlement bodies and assesses their broader implications for national tobacco control regulations. In particular, it examines the extent to which the rules of the TBT Agreement, as interpreted in the Clove dispute, constrain national governments and to what extent they affect various national initiatives that are currently discussed in the TBT Committee (e.g. Brazilian measure on the use of additives in cigarettes).