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Saving us from ourselves? A fundamental rights approach on standardised packaging in the EU

Trombitas, Monika LU (2016) JAMM05 20161
Department of Law
Abstract
The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered three decisions on the 4th of May on the validity of the new Tobacco Products Directive; one on the standardisation of packaging that is obligatory for member states to adopt. The present thesis examines the measure to be adopted only by four
member states as part of the implementation of the Directive. The United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Hungary are adopting a stricter “standardised packaging” measure as well (also known as plain packaging), banning all branding from the packages and in effect hindering tobacco companies to use
their registered trade marks. As the Court has only answered whether the Directive is valid, the present thesis seeks to answer the question whether this... (More)
The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered three decisions on the 4th of May on the validity of the new Tobacco Products Directive; one on the standardisation of packaging that is obligatory for member states to adopt. The present thesis examines the measure to be adopted only by four
member states as part of the implementation of the Directive. The United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Hungary are adopting a stricter “standardised packaging” measure as well (also known as plain packaging), banning all branding from the packages and in effect hindering tobacco companies to use
their registered trade marks. As the Court has only answered whether the Directive is valid, the present thesis seeks to answer the question whether this “standardised packaging” for tobacco products is in conformity with the fundamental rights laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
After identifying the two relevant fundamental rights, namely the right to property and the freedom of expression and information; with a strong focus on the content and the function of the trade mark right, this thesis follows the Court’s case law in assessing fundamental rights related cases and
concludes, that even though in its recent decision the Court is leaning towards a paternalistic approach to tobacco addiction, standardised packaging should amount to a violation of those two identified fundamental rights. (Less)
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author
Trombitas, Monika LU
supervisor
organization
course
JAMM05 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
standardised packaging, plain packaging, fundamental rights, human rights, tobacco, trademark, right to property, freedom of expression, EU
language
English
id
8882360
date added to LUP
2016-06-17 09:48:11
date last changed
2016-06-17 09:48:11
@misc{8882360,
  abstract     = {{The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered three decisions on the 4th of May on the validity of the new Tobacco Products Directive; one on the standardisation of packaging that is obligatory for member states to adopt. The present thesis examines the measure to be adopted only by four
member states as part of the implementation of the Directive. The United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Hungary are adopting a stricter “standardised packaging” measure as well (also known as plain packaging), banning all branding from the packages and in effect hindering tobacco companies to use
their registered trade marks. As the Court has only answered whether the Directive is valid, the present thesis seeks to answer the question whether this “standardised packaging” for tobacco products is in conformity with the fundamental rights laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
After identifying the two relevant fundamental rights, namely the right to property and the freedom of expression and information; with a strong focus on the content and the function of the trade mark right, this thesis follows the Court’s case law in assessing fundamental rights related cases and
concludes, that even though in its recent decision the Court is leaning towards a paternalistic approach to tobacco addiction, standardised packaging should amount to a violation of those two identified fundamental rights.}},
  author       = {{Trombitas, Monika}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Saving us from ourselves? A fundamental rights approach on standardised packaging in the EU}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}