India top court sets aside order cancelling larger tobacco health warnings (updated)

Godfrey Phillips India

08/01/2018 16:16

* India's top court orders a setback for tobacco industry 
    * Supreme Court says health of citizens most important 
    * Lower court had quashed stringent health labelling rules 
    * Tobacco kills more than 900,000 people each year in India 
 
 (Adds comments, court scene, details throughout) 
    By Aditya Kalra 
    NEW DELHI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Monday 
put on hold a lower court's order that quashed federal rules 
mandating larger health warnings on tobacco packages, in a 
setback for the country's $11 billion tobacco industry.  
    The High Court of southern Karnataka state last month struck 
down federal government rules requiring 85 percent of a tobacco 
pack's surface to be covered in health warnings, up from 20 
percent earlier. The rules had been in force since 2016. 
    The Supreme Court, which heard petitions brought forward by 
tobacco-control activists, stayed the Karnataka court's order on 
Monday, citing the need to protect the health of citizens. 
    "Health of a citizen has primacy and he or she should be 
aware of that which can affect or deteriorate the condition of 
health," the Supreme Court said in its 13-page order.  
    "Deterioration may be a milder word and, therefore, in all 
possibility the expression 'destruction of health' is apposite." 
    The court's decision comes as a relief for health advocates 
and federal health ministry who say bigger health warnings deter 
tobacco consumption. More than 900,000 people die each year in 
India due to tobacco-related illnesses, the government 
estimates. 
    India's tobacco packaging rules are among the world's most 
stringent. A government survey last year found that 62 percent 
of cigarette smokers thought of quitting because of such warning 
labels on the packets. 
    The court's decision is a blow to cigarette makers such as 
India's ITC Ltd  ITC.NS  and Philip Morris International Inc's 
 PM.N  Indian partner, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd  GDFR.NS , 
whose representatives call the rules extreme. In protest at the 
health warning measures, the industry briefly shut its factories 
across the country in 2016 and filed dozens of legal cases. (http://reut.rs/1Of3fKL) 
  
    On Monday, both federal health ministry officials and 
tobacco industry executives were in attendance inside a packed 
courtroom to hear the proceedings which lasted for about 40 
minutes. The three judges took time to look over examples of 
health warning pictures used on cigarette packs. 
    Kapil Sibal, a lawyer who argued for the industry, urged the 
court to reduce the size of tobacco pack warnings. At one point, 
he cited the absence of health warnings on a glass of whisky to 
argue against such displays on tobacco products. 
    The attorney general of India, K. K. Venugopal, defended the 
government's stringent rules, saying they were "one of the most 
progressive" steps to protect the health of people. 
    The case will next be heard on March 12. 
 
 (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Suchitra 
Mohanty; Editing by Tom Lasseter and Richard Balmforth) 
 ((aditya.kalra@thomsonreuters.com; +91-011-49548021; Reuters 
Messaging: aditya.kalra.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)(Twitter: 
@adityakalra)) 
 
Keywords: INDIA TOBACCO/