U.S. Chamber Statement on New Zealand’s Public Consultation to Eliminate Use of Privately-held Trademarks
Statement from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Asia Tami Overby, following the Chamber’s submission of
comments last week to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, regarding its proposal to introduce plain packaging of tobacco
products:
“The U.S. Chamber is a strong supporter of measures that protect public health, including those that effectively reduce
smoking in the population. However, we remain convinced that measures under consideration by the government of New
Zealand will achieve neither objective and will instead mandate through law, the elimination of an entire industry’s
trademarks.
“There are a wide variety of tobacco control measures, such as education campaigns, that can be effective and do not
require destroying an industry’s intellectual property.
“We hope the government of New Zealand will carefully weigh all the views expressed in these consultations, and adopt
narrowly tailored alternatives that can more effectively protect public health and adhere to the government’s
international obligations.”
Bobby Maldonado
U.S. Chamber of Commerce