As I indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 531 of 25 October, 2011, plain packaging is one of the issues being considered in the context of the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive by the European Commission in consultation with Member States. I understand that the legislative proposal in relation to this is due to be published later this year.
Also as I stated in that response the Australian Government is being challenged in the courts by the tobacco industry and I understand that one of these legal challenges is being heard this week in the High Court of Australia.The Deputy may be interested to know that the Department of Health in the UK just this week published a "Consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products” and I understand that the UK Government will await the results of this consultation before taking any decisions in this regard.
My Department will continue to monitor developments in Australia and the UK in this regard and will support any international developments in relation to plain or standardised packaging.
In relation to the Report of the Tobacco Policy Review Group I hope to be in position to publish this document in the coming months.