Open Letter – Plain Packaging Legislation and the Constitution
NOTE: The following open letter has been delivered by email to the office of the Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa on 31 July 2014. The contents of this letter is published here in furtherance of the debate on plain packaging legislation and the potential impact on the Constitutional rights of the proprietor. OPEN LETTER 31 July 2014 The Honourable Minister of Health Dr Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi Civitas Building Corner of Thabo Sehume and Struben Streets Private Bag X828 PRETORIA 0001 Dear Dr Motsoaledi, RE: PREVENTION OF USE OF TRADE MARKS ON PACKAGING FOR...
Read MoreA Spoon Full of Sugar for Plain Packaging
History has taught us that the South African Government, and the Legislature in particular, will not hesitate to make bad law. The volume of carelessly drafted, ill conceived, unconstitutional and overtly political laws that the public has been force-fed in recent years is so great that recourse to the Constitutional Court has become a pedestrian matter. In fact, the alarm felt over perpetual ham-handed law making is only outstripped by Government’s brazen disregard for public cooperation in the democratic process. This even after the public, who are expected to prop up and thereafter obey...
Read MoreTrade Marks Going Up In Smoke
The age old proverb says “there is no smoke without fire”. The legislatures of several countries are about to turn this proverb on its head. The anti-smoking lobby has gained such strength in these countries that the fire brands of the anti-smoking lobby with their fiery rhetoric have moved governments to do their utmost to achieve the demise of smoking as a social practise. These campaigns have resulted in fire generating no smoking. It is not the objective of the Vine Oracle to debate the merits or demerits of such a policy. The Vine Oracle is, however, a custodian of...
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