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Uruguay

PMI awaits jurisdiction ruling in Uruguay bilateral investment treaty litigation
19-Jun-2013 Tobacco Reporter
Philip Morris International expects a decision to be made this month or next on a challenge by Uruguay as to whether an international tribunal set to hear bilateral investment treaty complaints has jurisdiction over the matter.
Hearings to start in Uruguay anti-smoking
11-Feb-2013
Uruguay faces its first hearings in the French capital this week in a lawsuit filed by US tobacco giant Philip Morris International against its anti-smoking laws, an official said on Monday.
Hazards in Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs): Investors’ rights v. public health
6-Dec-2012 South Centre
Developing countries that have signed BITs should start a process of review and eventual renegotiation or denunciation, writes Carlos Correa
Mercosur is not moving but Uruguay “will not stay put licking its wounds”
19-Nov-2011
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica said that Mercosur “is not moving forward or backwards” but is certainly working much better than the European Union where old experienced nations “made a mess of it”. Nevertheless, Uruguay will not stay put “licking its wounds”, it will look for other trade links.
Philip Morris v. Uruguay on cigarette branding: Will investor-state arbitration send restrictions on tobacco marketing up in smoke?
4-Aug-2011 Info Justice
Philip Morris asserts that fair and equitable treatment includes a right to a “stable and predictable regulatory framework” as well as rights under treaties in addition to customary international law.
Philip Morris takes Uruguay to international court because of tobacco-ban policy
9-Jun-2011
One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is launching a claim against Uruguay for considering the country’s legislation commercially damaging to the company. Philip Morris corporation has filed a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank branch.
Uruguay considers China a ‘strategic partner’ and supports a Beijing-Mercosur trade accord
9-Jun-2011
Uruguay sees China as a ‘strategic partner’ and has kept good relations with Beijing since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1988, said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro, a former ambassador to China from 2007-2009. Almagro made the statement as Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping begun his official visit to Uruguay.
How Argentina torpedoed Uruguay’s FTA with the US, according to Wikileaks
11-Mar-2011 MercoPress
Although in public former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner was supportive of Uruguay’s negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, members of his cabinet warned the US embassy in Buenos Aires that Argentina would block such an initiative in Mercosur, according to the contents of several Wikileaks cables published in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
Beef, trade on table in Uruguay for South Korean PM
6-Jan-2011 AFP
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik was to open three days of talks in Uruguay Tuesday to advance plans for a trade pact with the region and to hear pleas to end Seoul’s ban on Uruguayan beef.
Uruguay court dismisses Philip Morris tobacco challenge
22-Nov-2010 AFP
Uruguay’s Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a constitutional challenge brought by tobacco giant Philip Morris that disputes the tiny South American country’s anti-tobacco laws.
Uruguay to toughen tobacco controls
13-Sep-2010 AFP
Uruguayan officials announced plans Thursday to take further steps to toughen controls on tobacco despite a pending legal battle with global cigarette powerhouse Philip Morris International.
Uruguay calls for a Mercosur with “open regionalism” for smaller members
17-Aug-2010
Uruguay called on Brazil and Argentina to allow Mercosur junior members to reach unilateral trade agreements with third countries helping to boost the group’s dynamism.
Philip Morris International claims against Uruguay without merit.
12-Aug-2010 Marketwire
A legal analysis of the challenge launched by Philip Morris International found the company to be both unjustified and unreasonable in its opposition to Uruguay’s new tobacco packaging laws.
Uruguay: Philip Morris files first-known investment treaty claim against tobacco regulations
11-Mar-2010 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
The move is certain to be closely watched by international lawyers and policymakers alike, as it will serve as an early test-case of the little-used intellectual property protections contained in BITs.
Philip Morris vs. Uruguay
8-Mar-2010 FPIF
Uruguay’s new health legislation, expected to go into effect in March 2010, requires that 80 percent of each side of cigarette boxes be covered by graphic images of the possible detrimental health effects of smoking. Philip Morris argues that this limits the space for branding and thus infringes on its intellectual property rights.
Mercosur “is virtually fractured” Uruguay admits openly
10-Dec-2008
Mercosur presidential summit next week in Brazil has on the table an agenda of several highly sensitive issues that could deepen the rift between senior members Argentina and Brazil and junior members Paraguay and Uruguay, according to Uruguayan parliamentary sources.
Argentina’s protectionist policies alienate Mercosur partners
29-Nov-2008
As was anticipated Mercosur senior members Argentina and Brazil proposed Friday an increase of the common external tariff, (AEC) for certain products, and as was expected junior members Uruguay and Paraguay rejected the idea.
MERCOSUR Far from Expectations, Uruguay FM
20-Nov-2008
MERCOSUR "is barely surviving or far from the expectations for which it was created," said Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Gonzalo Fernandez, in declarations today to the weekly magazine Busqueda.
Uruguay favors more trade accords, with or without Mercosur
15-Sep-2008 MercoPress
Uruguay formally proposed its Mercosur partners to begin a round of negotiations geared to reach trade agreements with the European Union, United States, South Korea and Canada.
Uruguay criticizes Mercosur tolerance of export taxes
23-Aug-2008
Uruguay’s Economy minister Danilo Astori criticized export taxes and complained the fact Mercosur has allowed Argentina to apply them when “we all know this is a simple manipulation of the economy” which also has political effects.