G/TBT/W/366  
2 July 2013  
(13-3430)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish  
 
  PROPOSAL TO INTRODUCE STANDA RDISED/PLAIN PACKAGING OF 
TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN IRELAND 
STATEMENT BY THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TO THE COMMITTEE  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
17, 19 AND 20 JUNE 2013 
The following submission, dated 25 June 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Dominican Republic. 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION 
1.1.  On 28 May 2013, Ireland announced its intention to introduce plain packaging for tobacco 
products (hereinafter "proposed plain packaging measures").1 The Dominican Republic shares 
Ireland's human health protection objectives  and is therefore extremely concerned about 
the proposed plain packaging measures. 
1.2.  The Dominican Republic does not believe that the proposed plain packaging measures will 
have the desired effect and considers them inconsistent with Ireland's obligations under the TBT Agreement  and the TRIPS Agreement . The legitimate objective pursued by Ireland could 
be fulfilled by introducing measures which have already proven to be effective in reducing 
the prevalence of tobacco use and which impose lesser restrictions on international trade 
and intellectual property right holders. 
1.3.  At previous TBT Committee meetings, the Dominican Republic and other WTO Members have 
expressed their concern over similar measures no tified by New Zealand and applied by Australia.
2 
Australia's plain packaging measures are current ly being examined by the Dispute Settlement 
Body (DSB).3 The Dominican Republic, Cuba, Honduras and Ukraine have formally submitted 
requests for consultations regarding Australia's plain packaging regime.4 On 28 September 2012, 
a WTO panel was established following the request made by Ukraine.5,6 Australia rejected the first 
                                               
1 "Ireland set to become second country in the world to introduce plain pack cigarettes" (28 May 2013). 
Available online at http://www.dohc.ie/press/releases/2013/20130528.html.  
2 G/TBT/W/339; G/TBT/W/346. 
3 WT/DS434; WT/DS435; WT/DS441. 
4 Australia – Certain measures concerning tradem arks, geographical indications and other plain 
packaging requirements applicable to tobacco produc ts and packaging - Request for consultations by the 
Dominican Republic, WT/DS441/1 (circulated on 23 July 2012); Australia – Certain measures concerning trademarks, geographical indications and other plai n packaging requirements applicable to tobacco 
products and packaging - Request for consultations by Cuba, WT/DS458/1 (circulated on 7 May 2013); Australia – Certain measures concerni ng trademarks and other plain pack aging requirements applicable to 
tobacco products and packaging - Request for cons ultations by Honduras, WT/DS435/1 (circulated on 
10 April 2012); Australia – Certain measures concerning trademarks and other plain packaging requirements applicable to tobacco products and packaging - Request for Consultations by Ukraine, WT/DS434/1 (circulated on 15 March 2012). 
5 Australia – Certain measures concerning trad emarks and other plain packaging requirements 
applicable to tobacco products and packaging - Requ est for the establishment of a panel by Ukraine, 
WT/DS434/11 (circulated on 17 August 2012). G/TBT/W/366 
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  panel requests submitted by both the Dominican Republic and Honduras.7 However, even if the 
Dominican Republic and Honduras decide to withdraw their panel requests at the next DSB meeting, Australia will not be able to prevent the examination of its plain packaging measures. 
1.4.  The Dominican Republic requests that Irelan d delay the introduction of plain packaging until 
the DSB issues its ruling in the disputes concerning Australia's plain packaging measures. We hope that the DSB finds evidence that plain pa ckaging requirements for tobacco products 
are inconsistent with the obligations of WTO Members under both the TBT Agreement  
and the TRIPS Agreement . In today's statement, we will limit ourselves to sharing our concern 
over the proposed plain packaging measures taking into account Ireland's obligations under the TBT Agreement.  
2  DESCRIPTION AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROPOSED PLAIN PACKAGING MEASURE 
2.1.  Although Ireland has not yet notified th e proposed plain packaging measures, we note 
the official announcement by the Minister of Heal th, James Reilly, that Ireland is set to become 
the second country in the world, after Australia, to introduce plain packaging for 
tobacco products.
8 
2.2.  Although apparently the details of the pr oposed plain packaging measures have not been 
fully revealed, Minister Reilly made it clear that the measures would include: the removal 
of "all form of branding – trademarks, logos, colo urs and graphics"; the presentation of "the brand 
name … in a uniform typeface for all brands"; and the use of "one plain neutral colour" for the packaging of all tobacco products.
9 This means that, as in Australia's case, the proposed 
plain packaging measures will eliminate the characteristic features that serve to differentiate each 
tobacco product competing and sold legally on the market. 
2.3.  The Dominican Republic remains sceptical about Ireland's assertion that the introduction 
of the measures will permit the country to fulfil its legitimate health objectives. The studies carried 
out by the proponents of plain packaging pres ent serious methodological flaws and do not 
constitute a credible and solid evidentiary basis for the introduction of such a measure. 
2.4.  On the contrary, available evidence shows that rather than reduce tobacco consumption, 
plain packaging may actually lead to an increase  i n  t h e  u s e  o f  t o b a c c o  i n  I r e l a n d .  T h e  s a l e  
of products in standardized, similar-looking packets will hinder differentiation, which in turn will intensify price competition and generally lead to lower prices. According to basic economics, 
lower prices lead to an increase in demand for goods, including tobacco products, and therefore 
a higher, not lower, level of consumption. Plain packaging may have even more unexpected consequences that could undermine Ireland's health  objectives. For instance, the requirement that 
all tobacco products be available in similar-l ooking packets would encourage the importation, 
counterfeiting and smuggling of tobacco products. An increase in sales and consumption of legal and illegal tobacco products would constitute a serious threat to public health. 
2.5.  We wish to reiterate that we are especial ly concerned about the possible impact of plain 
packaging on small and fragile economies that have invested in the production and export of high-quality tobacco and tobacco products. 
2.6.  The Dominican Republic has invested considerable resources with a view to becoming 
a producer of high-quality tobacco products, mo st notably cigars. Exports of tobacco products 
account for 8% of the country's total exports and,  with 19% of the world's cigar exports, it has 
become the largest net exporter of cigars wo rldwide. With plain packaging, consumers can 
                                                                                                                                               
6 WTO news items: "Panels set up on  Australia's tobacco measures and on US duties on China's exports" 
(28 September 2012). Available online at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news12_e/dsb_28sep12_e.htm . 
7 Honduras' first request for the establishment of  a WTO panel was rejected by Australia at the 
DSB meeting of 19 November 2012. The first request by the Dominican Republic was rejected by Australia at the DSB meeting of 17 December 2012. 
8 "Ireland set to become second country in the world to introduce plain pack cigarettes" (28 May 2013). 
Available online at http://www.dohc.ie/press/releases/2013/20130528.html . 
9 Ibid. G/TBT/W/366 
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  no longer be informed of the superior quality of our products, and competition opportunities will 
be undermined as the measure pushes consumers towards illegally traded tobacco products and those of inferior quality. 
2.7.  Lastly, the Dominican Republic is also concerned that plain packaging may be introduced with 
a view to lowering the consumption of other products that are considered health hazards. 
If the use of less attractive packaging is accepted for tobacco products, this same justification may be invoked by WTO Members to introduce similar restrictions for other types of products such 
as alcoholic beverages, processed foods and soft drinks. 
3  INCONSISTENCY WITH ARTICL E 2.2 OF THE TBT AGREEMENT
 
3.1.  The Dominican Republic believes that the proposed plain packaging measures are 
inconsistent with Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement , which stipulates that "technical regulations 
shall not be more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective, taking account 
of the risks non-fulfilment would create". 
3.2.  We believe that the proposed measures will have a disproportionate impact on tobacco 
product trademarks and will impose considerable restrictions on the marketing of these products. 
The proposed plain packaging measures will lower the prices and market share of imported branded tobacco products, in particular those of high-quality brands and variants thereof. 
The same applies to the tobacco leaf used to make these high-quality branded products. 
As a result, the value of these imports will diminish. 
3.3.  At the same time, the Dominican Republic has considerable doubts as to whether these trade 
restrictions would contribute to Ireland's legitimate health objectives in terms of reducing tobacco 
consumption. As we have already explained, ex isting evidence shows that plain packaging may 
effectively lead to an increase in legal and illegal consumption. Moreover, Ireland's objectives may be fulfilled through alternative measures which ha ve already proven to be effective in reducing 
tobacco consumption and which are less restrictive. 
3.4.  For the aforementioned reasons, we reiterat e our request that Ireland take into consideration 
the Dominican Republic's concerns and ask it to ensure that it is not in violation of its obligations 
under the WTO Agreements. 
 
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