The tobacco trade and investment cases against Australia: implications for Australia and the TPP

Topic: The tobacco trade and investment cases against Australia: implications for Australia and the TPP

Presenter: Professor Tania Voon - Melbourne Law School

2015 was a big year for Australia at the intersection of trade, investment and public health. In May, the World Trade Organization hearing complaints by five countries against Australia in relation to plain tobacco packaging accepted Ukraine's request to suspend its complaint. In October, the negotiations of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership concluded, with the text released publicly in November revealing an unprecedented 'carveout' for investors' claims against tobacco control measures. In December, the tribunal hearing the claim brought by Philip Morris Asia Limited against Australia in relation to plain tobacco packaging dismissed the claim on jurisdictional grounds. This seminar provides an update and analysis of these tobacco cases against Australia, within the context of Australia's trade and investment policy and existing and future agreements.

Tania Voon is Professor at Melbourne Law School and was Associate Dean (Research) from 2012-2014. She is a former Legal Officer of the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat and has previously practised law with King & Wood Mallesons and the Australian Government Solicitor and taught law at Georgetown University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of British Columbia, and several Australian universities. Tania undertook her LLM at Harvard Law School and her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Cultural Products and the World Trade Organization (Cambridge University Press, 2007), editor of Trade Liberalisation and International Co-operation: A Legal Analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (Edward Elgar, 2013), and series editor of the International Economic Law Series of Oxford University Press. Tania is a member of the Roster of Panelists for the Energy Charter Treaty and the Indicative List of Governmental and Non-Governmental Panelists for resolving WTO disputes. She has provided expert advice and training to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the WTO, the World Health Organization, Telstra, and the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer. In 2014 she was Senior Emile Noël Fellow at the Jean Monnet Center, NYU Law.

All Welcome - No RSVP required.

Contact: Law Events, ph: 336 52523, email: events@law.uq.edu.au