Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Tobacco Control: Implications for Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention and Consumption-Control Measures

Abstract

Public health advocates and policy makers have long considered how to translate the successes of tobacco control measures to address alcohol abuse and the excessive consumption of ultra-processed and nutrient-poor foods. Correspondingly, the strategies adopted by tobacco companies to prevent or delay regulation often parallel those adopted by the alcohol and food industries. Philip Morris, a leading tobacco company, has recently used investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms as a new strategy to hinder or prevent tobacco control measures in the form of plain packaging requirements. The cases that followed may have implications for the development of novel consumption-control measures, like plain packaging laws, aimed at preventing non-communicable diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. This paper considers how the challenges to tobacco control measures through ISDS mechanisms could affect the development of consumption-control measures aimed at reducing alcohol abuse and unhealthy food consumption for non-communicable disease prevention. Using the recent ISDS challenges by Philip Morris as case studies, this paper draws out lessons and issues for the future development of consumption-control measures.