WTO裁决肯定澳大利亚香烟白板包装法

Australia has won a landmark victory at the World Trade Organisation over its ban on branded cigarette packaging in a decision that could spur a further wave of tobacco regulation in other countries.

就禁止品牌香烟包装的做法，澳大利亚在世界贸易组织（WTO）赢得了一场里程碑式的胜利，这一裁决可能会在其它国家引发又一波烟草监管浪潮。

The WTO rejected claims brought by Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Cuba that the plain packaging measures introduced in 2011 to curb smoking on health grounds were inconsistent with its rules.

WTO驳回了洪都拉斯、多米尼加共和国、印尼和古巴提出的主张，即2011年澳大利亚以健康为由引入白板包装措施以减少吸烟的做法，与WTO的规则不符。

The ruling, which was issued late last Thursday by the WTO, is the latest in a swathe of legal victories achieved by Canberra, which was the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging laws.

WTO在上周四晚发布了这一裁决，这是澳大利亚政府取得的一系列诉讼胜利中的最新一次。澳大利亚是世界上第一个引入白板包装法律的国家。

"This is a significant win for the country as we continue to work hard towards reducing the damaging effects of smoking," said Steve Ciobo, Australia's trade minister.

澳大利亚贸易部长史蒂文·乔博表示：“这对澳大利亚来说是一次重大胜利，我们将继续努力减轻吸烟的破坏性影响。”

"After years of robustly defending the tobacco plain packaging measures against multiple claims brought within multiple forums... this is the conclusion to these efforts to challenge Australia's right to introduce legitimate measures to protect human health."

“多年以来，澳大利亚在很多论坛上对香烟白板包装措施进行了强有力的辩护...这次胜利，终止了挑战澳大利亚引入合法措施、保护人类健康的权利的努力。”

Unless any of the country's taking the WTO action successfully appeal the ruling, health experts predict other countries will introduce bans on plain packaging.

卫生专家们预测，除非提起这项WTO诉讼的国家中有任何一个对上述裁定上诉并胜诉，否则其他国家将引入禁止品牌香烟包装的措施。

Mike Daube, professor of health policy at Curtin University, who has campaigned against tobacco, said this was the eighth legal battle that Big Tobacco had lost on the issue.

科廷大学卫生政策教授迈克·道贝一直在为反对烟草而努力。他表示，这是烟草巨擘们在此问题上输掉的第8场官司。

"Plain packaging is here to stay; it has been adopted in eight countries; it is under consideration in another 16. We can now be confident that many more countries will follow," he said.

他说：“白板包装已深入人心；它已在8个国家被采纳；另外16个国家正在考虑这一做法。现在我们可以确信，还会有很多国家效仿澳大利亚。”

Australia has introduced some of the toughest anti-smoking measures in the world over the past quarter of a century, which has seen the daily smoking rate decrease to 14.7 per cent in 2014-15, compared to 27.7 per cent in 1990.

在过去的25年里，澳大利亚引入了一些世界上最严厉的反吸烟措施。结果是，澳大利亚的每日吸烟率从1990年的27.7%下降至2014到2015年的14.7%。