18-Feb-2013
Lawsuits are seen as the inevitable next step if plain packaging of cigarettes is brought in.
The government will announce a decision on the matter in the next few days.
11-Feb-2013
Uruguay faces its first hearings in the French capital this week in a lawsuit filed by US tobacco giant Philip Morris International against its anti-smoking laws, an official said on Monday.
24-Jan-2013
Infojustice
USTR has begun an “internal review of the controversial pharmaceutical patent proposal that U.S. trade officials tabled” earlier in the TPP negotiations.
6-Dec-2012
South Centre
Developing countries that have signed BITs should start a process of review and eventual renegotiation or denunciation, writes Carlos Correa
26-Nov-2012
The European Union wants Canada to agree to compensate European companies for any losses that stem from changes to health, environment or safety rules in Canada, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.
11-Sep-2012
Delegates attending trans-Pacific free-trade negotiations in the United States are being warned their countries could end up like Australia if they agree to allow corporations to sue governments in international courts.
15-Aug-2012
Australia’s High Court has rejected a challenge by the world’s biggest tobacco companies which are seeking to overturn a law requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging from the start of December.
15-Aug-2012
“We welcome the High Court decision as a vindication of the Government’s right to regulate tobacco as an addictive substance that still kills 15,000 Australians per year,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said today.
21-May-2012
Smoking is bad for our health.
Smoking is detrimental to our economic well-being - smoking-related conditions and diseases cost the health service in this country millions and millions of dollars each year. But moves to reduce or stop smoking in this country could cost us just as much if not more.
15-Dec-2011
A study done by research group IBON showed that a free trade deal with the European Union (EU) will lead to poorer access to health services and more unaffordable medicines as well as undermine government revenues including public health spending.
8-Dec-2011
Just on the day when the government suspended its decision on FDI in the retail sector, a report by United Nations’ Working Group on Human Rights in India pointed that the country’s free trade agreements (FTA) threaten the rights to food, health, work and development, especially of vulnerable groups.
21-Nov-2011
The Federal Government’s plain packaging laws for cigarettes have now passed both houses of Parliament but are facing their first legal challenge.
14-Nov-2011
Hankyoreh
With the passage of the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), the American medical industry expects to widen its opportunities to establish for-profit hospitals in South Korea in addition to limiting domestic authority to close them once they are established, according to a report by the US Department of Commerce released Sunday.
1-Sep-2011
Crikey
Australia leads the world in many areas of public health but the Federal Government could be negotiating our achievements away, according to Dr Patricia Ranald, Convenor, Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
26-Aug-2011
Voxy
Lobbyists for the alcohol industry are threatening to use New Zealand’s free trade agreements against government proposals to restrict products targetting young drinkers
12-Jul-2011
IP Watch
Civil society groups say a leaked document from regional free trade negotiations between countries bordering the Pacific Ocean shows the United States favouring giant pharmaceutical companies at the expense of public health.
9-Jul-2011
Tobacco giants are invoking investor-state dispute mechanisms in bilateral investment agreements to challenge moves of governments which are aimed at controlling the widespread use of tobacco products. This scary development highlights the dangers of signing trade or investment treaties which could give corporations the right to sue governments over legitimate health or other public interest regulations.
8-Jul-2011
Pharmaceuticals might not have been the most discussed sector before the Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement came into effect from July 1.
28-Jun-2011
Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing the Australian government for introducing plain packaging laws for tobacco should send shockwaves through this country as it seeks a free trade deal involving the US, says an academic critic of the deal.
27-Jun-2011
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she won’t be intimidated by big tobacco after Philip Morris launched legal action to try to force the government to back down on introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.