631. Uruguay would like to thank the delegations of Ukraine and the Dominican Republic for introducing this item on our agenda. We also associate ourselves with the statements of Australia, New Zealand and Norway and are grateful for the information provided by the delegation of the European Union on the plans which are being studied in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
632. Uruguay would like to restate, as it did at the meeting last February under this same agenda item, its position regarding the legitimacy of the measures relating to the plain packaging of tobacco products under the WTO rules and the TRIPS Agreement in particular.
633. Protection of public health clearly falls under the sovereign authority of states, and accordingly, every country is entitled to legislate in the public interest. This has been recognized by all WTO Members.
634. We wish to point out in this connection that Article 20 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that the use of a trademark should not be "unjustifiably" encumbered by special requirements. Hence the implementation by states of measures designed to control tobacco consumption in their territories because of its devastating health, social, economic and environmental consequences cannot be considered contrary to the Agreement.
635. Lastly, we would recall that paragraph 4 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health states that the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health.
