India's
top court tells tobacco industry packs must carry bigger
warnings
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[May 04, 2016]
By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court
on Wednesday said the tobacco industry must adhere to federal rules
requiring stringent health warnings on cigarette packs, in a major
setback for the $11 billion industry that opposes the new policy.
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The court also turned down an industry plea to stay the
implementation of the new tobacco-control rules introduced from
April 1, which require health warnings to cover 85 percent of a
cigarette pack's surface, up from 20 percent earlier.
The tobacco industry "should not violate any rule prevailing as of
today," the two-judge bench said during the 45-minute hearing inside
a packed courtroom in New Delhi.
It also directed the high court of Karnataka state to hear dozens of
pleas filed against the new rules in several Indian courts and
decide on the matter within six weeks.

Last month, Indian tobacco companies, some backed by foreign "Big
Tobacco", briefly shut down production as the new rules came into
effect. The industry says the new policy is impractical and says it
will boost cigarette smuggling.
But the government still backs the rules that are aimed at reducing
tobacco consumption. Ranjit Kumar, solicitor general of India, told
the court New Delhi was committed to the new rules and opposes any
stay on their implementation.
The Supreme Court declined an industry lawyer's request that a stay
obtained by a lower court be allowed to continue.
Shares in India's biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd, part-owned by
British American Tobacco, fell nearly 1 percent after the court
directive. U.S.-based Philip Morris International's India partner
Godfrey Phillips pared gains but was trading 1.3 percent higher.
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Officials from the Tobacco Institute of India, an industry lobby
group whose members include ITC and Godfrey, were not immediately
available for comment.
It was not immediately clear when the companies will start printing
bigger warnings on their packs.
Smoking kills more than 1 million people a year in India, according
to BMJ Global Health. The World Health Organization says
tobacco-related diseases cost India $16 billion annually.
(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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