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"The Anti-Tobacco Trade Litigation Fund was set up to encourage and assist low and middle-income countries like India to defend themselves against international trade suits brought by tobacco companies," Myers told ET. Since the past few years, countries like Uruguay and Australia have been defending lawsuits from the tobacco industry at the World Trade Organisation and other international tribunals for implementing graphic health warnings and plain packaging, which involves stripping tobacco packaging of branding opportunities by using drab colours and graphic warnings. India is currently in the middle of a policy churn, having delayed a move to increase the size of warnings on tobacco packs to 85% from the existing 40% on the front side, which it was scheduled to implement from April 1.
This came after a Parliamentary panel’s interim report recommended that the proposal notified by the health ministry last October be kept in abeyance until its broader socio-economic ramifications are evaluated. The panel’s final recommendations are awaited by the health ministry, government officials said. Besides Uruguay and Australia, several other countries have been threatened by the tobacco industry, a tactic that can lead to delays by governments in passing and implementing the bestpractice tobacco control laws called for in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) -- the world’s first health treaty that has been adopted by more than 180 countries globally, said a joint statement issued by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic arms of Bloomberg and Gates, last month.
Officials from low and middle-income countries like India, that might benefit from the funds and technical assistance of this programme, are eligible for the funds if they meet the criteria that have been established by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Myers said when asked whether India can avail of the funds and technical help. He, however, added that the applications of the countries seeking assistance will be first reviewed on criteria such as the commitment of the government to tobacco control among others.
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