Tobacco Giant Makes Last Ditch Bid on Advertising

Source from:  Legalbrief Today 07/16/2012

British American Tobacco SA (Batsa) has launched a final attempt to have tobacco advertising re-instated by approaching the Constitutional Court, Die Burger reports. The company has filed an application to appeal against a recent SCA judgment, which found although the government ban on tobacco advertisements infringed the right to freedom of expression, it was justified in the light of the dangers associated with smoking. But Batsa legal director Salim Young argues in the Constitutional Court application that the SCA judgment leads to an absurdity because it bans even those that communicate the negative effects of smoking. 'It could never have been the intention of the legislature to make the communication of factual and true information about a legal product (tobacco) a crime...' The Minister of Health made no case that there was a relationship between a general ban on tobacco advertisements and the government's aim of decreasing tobacco consumption,' Batsa says. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng is considering the application. Enditem