Tobacco politics and internationally, claiming government measures against tobacco have infringed on their commercial rights. In 2011, the Australian government introduced plain packaging legislation. Philip Morris Asia Limited challenged this directive under a bilateral trade agreement with Hong Kong, but did not succeed. Cuba, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Indonesia also filed a World Trade Organization complaint, but the WTO upheld the plain packaging law in 2017. Although China faces many tobacco-related health problems, with over 1.2 million tobacco-related deaths per year, the government has had a limited response. The tobacco industry provides 7 to 10 percent of tax revenue for the government,
Plain tobacco packaging regulations to enable standardised packaging of tobacco products came into force on 14 March 2018. Distributors were given six weeks to clear old stock and following this retailers were given a further six weeks to dispose of old stock. As a result, only standardised tobacco packaging was permissible after 6 June 2018. Discussion of the need for standardised packaging (formerly called plain packaging), the passage of the legislation through Parliament, and its subsequent coming into force took six years. In April 2012, following an inquiry by the Māori Affairs Select Committee, Government (on recommendation of the then Associate Minister of