烟草在线据雅虎金融报道编译　　12月17日，多米尼加共和国要求世界贸易组织(WTO)争端解决机构设立一个WTO专家组，来评估澳大利亚烟草产品平装措施的WTO一致性，该措施于2012年12月1日在澳大利亚生效。澳大利亚最初阻止设立WTO专家组，但不能阻止多米尼加根据WTO规则提起第二次请求。

　　平装极大地干涉了商标，并限制了国际贸易。多米尼加共和国的大使路易斯·曼尼·皮安提尼对WTO解释说：

　　“我们对我们的烟草产品，特别是我们高质量的烟草产品并深受世界各地数以百万计的鉴赏家欣赏的雪茄，深感自豪。我们努力发展一个为世界领袖的产业，并且不希望看到它被破坏公共卫生工作的投机策略所破坏。我们将为使世贸组织的规则公正、客观地应用到我们经济发展中而斗争。”

　　“多米尼加共和国和澳大利亚有着共同的公共卫生目标，但是平装不能有效地实现这些目标。它的作用仅仅是烟草市场商品化，价格下降，结果是增加烟草的消费和非法贸易。”

　　多米尼加烟草行业

　　虽然烟草已在多米尼加共和国种植超过5个世纪了，但是多米尼加烟草业仅仅百岁。烟草出口收入占到了出口总额的5%。烟草产品占到了财政收入中商品征税的8.5%。大约有5500名烟草生产商，雇佣了大约4.5万名农业工人。据多米尼加烟草研究所发布的信息称，结合整个烟草生产链，该行业能提供大约11.8万个直接的就业岗位，支持大约35万人的生计。多米尼加共和国是世界上最大的雪茄出口国。

Dominican Republic Requests the Establishment of World Trade Organization Panel Over Australian Plain Packaging

　　Today, the Dominican Republic requested that the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) establish a WTO panel to assess the WTO consistency of Australia's plain packaging measures for tobacco products, which came into effect in Australia on 1 December 2012. Australia initially blocked the establishment of the WTO panel but cannot block the Dominican Republic's second request as per WTO rules.

　　Plain packaging represents a dramatic interference with trademarks, and a restriction on international trade. Luis Manual Piantini, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the WTO explains:

　　"We are proud of our tobacco products and especially our cigars which are among the highest-quality smoking products and appreciated by millions of connoisseurs around the world. We have strived to develop an industry that is a world leader, and do not wish to see it undermined by speculative measures that will work to undermine public health. We will fight to have the WTO rules applied fairly and objectively to our developing economy."

　　"The Dominican Republic shares Australia's public health goals but plain packaging will not be effective in achieving those goals. Its effect will simply be to commoditize the tobacco market, with declining prices, and increased consumption of tobacco and illicit trade as a result."

　　About the Dominican tobacco industry

　　While tobacco has been cultivated in the Dominican Republic for more than five centuries, the Dominican tobacco industry is a hundred years old. Tobacco export revenues represent 5% of total exports. Tobacco products represent 8.5% of fiscal revenue on merchandise taxation. There are around 5,500 tobacco producers, employing approximately 45,000 agricultural workers. Combined with the entire tobacco production chain, the industry generates around direct 118,000 jobs which supports approximately 350,000 people, according to information published by the Tobacco Institute of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is the largest exporter of cigars in the world. Enditem