Date: 2020
Type: Thesis
When the lawfare is about evidence : from the negotiation of the framework convention on tobacco control to the international disputes against tobacco control measures (Philip Morris v Uruguay and Australia - plain packaging)
Florence : European University Institute, 2020, EUI, LAW, PhD Thesis
MELILLO, Margherita, When the lawfare is about evidence : from the negotiation of the framework convention on tobacco control to the international disputes against tobacco control measures (Philip Morris v Uruguay and Australia - plain packaging), Florence : European University Institute, 2020, EUI, LAW, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69135
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This thesis analyses the role of evidence in the international law on tobacco control. Starting from the 1990s, the 'tobacco wars' have invaded the international arena, giving rise to what I call an 'international lawfare'. International law has been used as a double-edged tool: to spur action at the domestic level, and at the same time to deter domestic regulation. The battle has consisted of two main courses of action. First, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, the tobacco control network pushed for the negotiation of a treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Second, as a counter-offensive, a wave of disputes has been lodged by the tobacco industry or by some States acting in their interest before international courts and tribunals (particularly the World Trade Organization dispute settlement system, ad-hoc international investment tribunals, and the Court of Justice of the European Union). Against this background, my thesis explores how both sides of the battle (the tobacco control network and the tobacco industry) strategically used and challenged the evidence on the effectiveness of tobacco control measures. To this end, Chapter I describes how the treaty entrepreneurs built the FCTC as an evidence-based treaty to counteract the attacks on evidence by the tobacco industry. Chapter II reviews how, after its entry into force, the FCTC institutional arrangements and scientific cooperation provisions have created a continuous evidence-based regime. Chapter III explains how the tobacco industry used the international lawsuits to challenge the effectiveness of tobacco control measures. The conclusions, finally, discuss some of the main issues raised by this thesis, including the role of business actors in international regulation and the fragmentation of international law.
Additional information:
Defence date: 27 November 2020; Examining Board: Prof. Joanne Scott (European University Institute); Prof. Jürgen Kurtz (European University Institute); Prof. Amandine Garde (University of Liverpool); Prof. Sergio Puig (University of Arizona); Awarded the 2021 Antonio Cassese Prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis in International Law
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69135
Full-text via DOI: 10.2870/14692
Series/Number: EUI; LAW; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Tobacco industry -- Law and legislation
Published version: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/76672
Preceding version: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69027; http://hdl.handle.net/1814/59659; http://hdl.handle.net/1814/60225
Version: Chapter 2 ‘The Management of the FCTC as an Evidence-Based Regime' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'The FCTC dilemma on heated tobacco products' (2020) in the journal ‘Globalization and Health’; Chapter 3 ‘Strategic evidentiary challenges in international litigation against tobacco control measures' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'The legal and evidential value of the guidelines for implementation of the framework convention on tobacco control recent developments and critical views' (2017) in the journal ‘European journal of risk regulation’, as an article 'The FCTC and its role in WTO law : some remarks on the WTO plain packaging report' (2018) in the journal ‘European journal of risk regulation’, and as an article 'Evidentiary issues in Philip Morris v Uruguay : the role of the framework convention for tobacco control and lessons for NCD prevention' (2020) in the journal ‘The journal of world investment & trade’