600. My delegation would like to associate itself with the concerns expressed by Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Indonesia, Honduras and others with respect to measures related to plain packaging of tobacco products and their incompatibility with the TRIPS Agreement.
601. Zimbabwe has, in different fora, including the DSB, already stated its clear position on the plain packaging measures ostensibly introduced to protect the health of consumers. We wish to reiterate that these measures appear to be inconsistent with Article 16.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, because Australia and other proponents of plain packaging are preventing and are seeking to prevent owners of registered trademarks from enjoying the rights conferred by a trademark.
602. Zimbabwe also considers plain packaging measures to be inconsistent with Article 20 and other Articles of the TRIPS Agreement because these measures undermine the use of trademarks for tobacco products in the course of trade through special requirements, which are detrimental to trademarks' capability to distinguish tobacco products from one undertaking from tobacco products of other undertakings.
603. Tobacco farming is a major economic activity and source of livelihood for many families in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. Tobacco contributes significantly to our country's GDP. It therefore stands to reason that the plain packaging measures will impact negatively on our national economic performance and employment, as well as undermine efforts towards alleviation.
604. In light of the restrictive effect of plain packaging measures on trade and the serious economic implications on tobacco-producing countries like my own, we are concerned that these measures are detrimental to trade in our countries. And as previously stated, including during the meetings of the DSB, these measures are not compatible with the TRIPS Agreement.
