Japan Tobacco Inc., Asia’s biggest listed cigarette maker, is suing the government over plans to increase the size of health warnings on cigarette packages, claiming the move is unconstitutional.
The government announced a plan in April to increase the size of graphic health warnings to 85 per cent of the cigarette package cover from the current 55 per cent.
Japan Tobacco filed a lawsuit in an Administrative Court on June 19 to block the plan, spokesman Hisashi Sekiguchi said in a phone interview today. A copy of the filing wasn’t immediately available from the court.
The proposal violates Thailand’s constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of expression, Tokyo-based Japan Tobacco said.
Tobacco companies are engaged in a global effort fighting government moves to curtail cigarette advertising and curb smoking through graphic health warnings and the elimination of branding. Australia has prohibited any tobacco company markings on cigarette packages, with New Zealand planning to do the same.
Philip Morris International Inc.’s Thailand unit said it would file its own suit against the government before July 4.
"The Ministry ignored our voice and the voices of thousands of retailers in enacting this rule," Onanong Pratakphiriya, a spokeswoman for the company’s Thailand unit, said in an e-mailed statement today.