Why is it that so many of the good discrimination cases are about products like alcohol and cigarettes? Here's another one that is in its early stages but might lead to a formal complaint at some point:
The [Indonesian] government has warned the United States Trade Representative against violating a WTO agreement if the U.S. decides to adopt a ban on the sale of clove cigarette.
...
"Our formal opinion stands clear. We have no issue with other kinds of flavors. However, there is no ground for exempting menthol from the ban. Such discrimination violates the agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary agreements under the WTO."
The bill, which is currently undergoing the legislation process in the U.S. Senate, would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to restrict tobacco advertising, regulate warning labels and remove hazardous ingredients.
It would also adopt a ban on clove-flavored cigarettes and other types of flavor including strawberry, grape, orange, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry or coffee, but exempted menthol from the list.
The measure banning flavored cigarettes is aimed to discourage children from smoking.
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"I understand that the legislators are concerned about certain kind of flavors that may lure the underage to smoke. But clove is not one of them. Clove has been used for ages as a flavor in cigarettes," Indonesian Clove Cigarette Producers Association chairman Ismanu Soemiran told the Post on Wednesday.
The article mentions the SPS Agreement, but claims under the GATT are likely as well. The proposed measure could raise all the usual issues that arise in these kinds of cases:
- Are clove-flavored cigarettes "like" menthol or other non-clove-flavored cigarettes?
- Do clove-flavored cigarettes make up a higher percentage of Indonesian cigarette production than they do of U.S. production, so that such a ban would have a disparate impact on Indonesian producers?
- Can such a measure, purportedly intended to discourage kids from smoking, satisfy the various aspects of the Article XX exception?
- And, of course, what exactly is the Article III non-discrimination standard, which seems to have fluctuated quite a bit over the years?
