Tobacco wars, analogies and standards of review in international investment arbitration

Vadi, Valentina (2013) Tobacco wars, analogies and standards of review in international investment arbitration. In: Confronting Ecological and Economic Collapse. Taylor and Francis, pp. 226-237. ISBN 9780203384022

Abstract

Tobacco use causes the death of more than five million people a year, and this figure could rise to more than ten million by 2020 unless measures are taken to control the tobacco epidemic (WHO, 2004). Against this background, tobacco control has become an essential aspect of contemporary public health governance (Vadi, 2012b: 94). At the national level, countries have adopted measures to control and restrict the tobacco use thereby reducing the mortality it causes. Tobacco control measures include interventions such as mass media campaigns, increased cigarette excise taxes, restrictions on smoke in public places, restrictions on the advertising, promotion, and marketing or packaging of cigarettes, among others. Analogously, at the regional level, regional economic organizations such as the European Union have adopted a number of regulatory initiatives relating to different aspects of tobacco control (Duina and Kurzer, 2004; McNeill et al., 2012). At the international level, countries have massively adhered to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),1 which has established a ‘cognitive and normative consensus’ for promoting global public health through tobacco control (Meier, 2005: 160-1).