Seita attacks the decree of August 11, 2016 aimed at prohibiting the marketing of certain brands of cigarettes. She seized the Council of State to cancel the neutral package.
As part of her Health Act, the Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, has implemented a series of strong measures to “prevent smoking among young people, help smokers to stop smoking and act on it. tobacco economy ”.
One of the flagship measures was the generalization of the neutral package. They are gradually arriving at tobacconists and are recognizable by their same olive-green color, and do not bear any logo or distinctive sign.
All brands are mentioned in identical typography and for the first time, at the bottom of the package. Health warnings occupy a prominent place, combining text messages on a black background and shock photos. An unattractive aspect which is the last straw that broke the camel’s back for manufacturers.
An “excessive” interpretation of the ministry
In a press release published on Monday, Seita, the French subsidiary of the British tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, announces that it is attacking decree of August 11, 2016 aimed at prohibiting the marketing of certain brands of cigarettes, the name of which is considered too “laudatory”. Claiming to be threatened in its freedom to undertake, it seized the Council of State in order to obtain the cancellation of the neutral package.
As a reminder, this decree is part of the transposition of the European Directive on tobacco products of 2014. The latter plans to regulate, for all member countries, the elements that manufacturers can put on packages. by prohibiting statements deemed too positive and likely to encourage consumption.
But with this decree transposing the directive, the Seita considers that the French Ministry of Health has chosen, “once again, to interpret the directive in an extensive and excessive manner and therefore to go further than the measures provided for in the others. countries of the European Union ”. “The ministry is taking a new step in its war against manufacturers, withdrawing even the right to use the name of their brands,” she adds.
The death of certain brands
And the pen of the Seita becomes acerbic, denouncing “the extreme nature of this decision which will lead to the death of certain brands”. As an explanation, she writes that “beyond the neutral package, the prohibition of the latter will permanently deprive manufacturers of their intellectual property rights, will undermine free competition and mislead consumers, will always favor trafficking and the explosion of cross-border shopping thus harming the network of French tobacconists ”.
For all these reasons, the company has decided to initiate an action for excess of power before the Council of State in order to assert its arguments and to preserve its right to use its trademark portfolio. The appeal is not, however, suspensive, explained the brand, and will therefore not prevent the implementation of the measure pending the decision of the Council of State. For the Seita, it will take between 12 and 18 months before knowing the answer.
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