Tobacco Business/Manufacturing Act Upheld by Constitutional Court of Korea

As many of the readers of this blog know, I worked for the Constitutional Court of Korea.  One of the Korean attorneys at our Firm, also, worked for the Court.  No surprise for us in this decision. 

Anti-smoking activists lost a challenge to a law that regulates and allows the manufacture and sale of tobacco in Korea.  The activists intent in the challenge is to completely ban the manufacture and sale of tobacco in Korea. 

On May 11, 2015, The Constitutional Court, in a 7-2 opinion opined that: “It is difficult to tell if a strong correlation between habitual smoking and lung cancer exists.” The Court went on to note that: “Even if a correlation exists, it is not strong enough to force the government to step in to ban tobacco businesses because lung cancer stems from diverse factors.”

The Court, correctly, noted that the government is engaged in many measures to discourage the consumption of tobacco and limit the exposure of non-smokers to smoking.   These measures have been challenged, also, at various courts by smoking advocates. 
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Sean Hayes may be contacted at: [email protected]

Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty.  Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw.

Sean profile may be found at: Sean C. Hayes

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