烟草在线据《烟业通讯》报道编译　　Melissa Lipman在Law360上撰文称，美国已经对WTO做出的该国禁止丁香烟违反了国际贸易规则，对主要为国内生产的薄荷烟有利，而对主要从印尼进口的丁香烟不利的裁决，提起了上诉。

　　在它的上诉诉状中，美国表示，专家小组做出的丁香烟和薄荷烟是类似产品，以及裁决美国法律对进口卷烟不利而对国产的类似卷烟有利的裁决都是错误的。

　　特别是，该诉状称，专家小组不适当地裁决，在根据国际贸易协会权衡两个产品是否是“相似”产品时，它不需要考虑目前消费者的“口味和习惯”。

　　尽管对于专家小组做出的这些管理是不必要的，因为它符合减少青少年吸烟的法律目标的结论，美国感到高兴，但是它表示这两个结果是“很难统一的。”

　　据美国称，这个问题是应当允许以不同于“基本上为初学吸烟者专用”的丁香烟的方法，来管理数百万名成年人上瘾的薄荷烟。

US appeals against WTO kretek ruling

Tobacco Reporter
Jan 10, 2012

　　The US has appealed against a World Trade Organization decision that the country's ban on clove cigarettes violated international trade rules by favoring mainly domestically produced menthol-flavored cigarettes over kreteks imported largely from Indonesia, according to a story by Melissa Lipman for Law360.

　　In its appeals brief, the US argued that the panel erred both in concluding that clove and menthol cigarettes were like products and in ruling that US laws treated the imports less favorably than similar cigarettes made domestically.

　　In particular, the brief said, the panel had improperly concluded that it didn't have to consider the "tastes and habits" of current consumers in weighing whether the two items were "like" products under international trade agreements.

　　While the US applauded the panel's conclusion that the regulation was not unnecessary because it was in the service of the legitimate goal of reducing youth smoking, it argued that the two findings were "difficult to reconcile".

　　The problem, according to the US, was that it should be allowed to regulate menthol cigarettes, a product to which millions of adults were addicted, differently to the way in which it dealt with clove cigarettes, which were "used almost exclusively by novice smokers".