456. Canada follows with interest the ongoing developments in the United Kingdom, in Ireland and other countries with regards to the plain packaging of tobacco products, and how such measures interact with both international trade and public health.
457. In Canada’s view, it is important to recall that the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health states that "the TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health".
458. Canada has been a pioneer in package labelling requirements for tobacco products, and we consider these sorts of requirements a core component of the right to regulate in the interests of the Canadian public.
459. Canada recognizes how challenging it is to introduce tobacco control measures that have never been implemented before as we were in a similar situation a decade ago when we introduced pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages.
460. Canada is also following, and participating in with great interest as a third party, to the ongoing dispute settlement proceedings with respect to Australia’s Plain Packaging measures that began last year.
