§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in the light of medical evidence that tobacco is at once addictive, seriously damaging to health and absorbs scarce medical resources, they will now seek to ensure that international trade in tobacco and tobacco products is considered part of the drug trade, and that restrictions on those trades cannot be cited at the World Trade Organisation as unlawful restraint.
Lord Clinton-DivesTobacco is not subject to the UN Conventions on narcotic and psychotropic substances and the Government have no plans to control it under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Nevertheless, smoking results in serious health problems. The Government are committed to banning tobacco advertising, and the Minister of State for Public Health is holding an international summit on smoking on 14 July. The summit will consider next steps in order to reduce smoking and its conclusions will inform the development of a White Paper, to be published later in the year. The White Paper will include proposals for legislation to ban tobacco advertising and other measures.
The World Trade Organisation does not prevent restrictions being put in place if they are necessary to protect human life or health. Any such restrictions must be based on sound scientific evidence and must not be applied in a discriminatory manner. Any restrictions on 78WA imports would therefore need to be matched by restrictions on similar domestic products.