Things will get hard from now on for many tobacco companies, as they have lost their court battle against Australian Government with regard to anti-smoking measures being adopted by the latter.

The laws will come in effect from December 2012 and with the initiation of the new set of rules, Australia will become the first country across the globe to take stern steps against tobacco products. Some of the rules that will be introduced from this year’s end are to sell cigarette packs in uniformed coloured packs and that too without any use of logos and other trademarks.

The new guidelines will act as a tester for other countries. Some of the countries, which are also thinking to imbibe the same set of guidelines with mild modifications, are Britain, Canada, New Zealand and India, South Africa, and Norway.

“Adults and adolescents perceive cigarettes in plain packs to be less appealing, less palatable, less satisfying and of lower quality compared to cigarettes in current packaging”, said experts, while explaining the benefits of plain packaging.

It has also been revealed that tobacco companies are not going to give up so easily, as Philip Morris Asia is planning to sue the Australian government in the case of breach of an investment treaty.