Uruguay has presented a 500 page document to defend itself against an international lawsuit challenging the country’s tough tobacco packaging regulations. The claim was brought by Philip Morris, the global tobacco giant, at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC…

On October 13, 2014, Paul Reichler, a lawyer with Foley Hoag, in Washington DC, responded on behalf of the Uruguayan government, citing the country’s obligations under the World Health Organisation’s 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

“We will fight because it is our right and duty as a government to protect our citizens’ health,” Silvina Echarte Acevedo, the legal adviser leading the Uruguayan ministry of public health’s case, told the Independent newspaper. “They are bullying us because we are small. This is like David and Goliath.” (Uruguay’s annual gross domestic product is $53 billion, less than that of Philip Morris which took in $80 billion last year)

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