Russian officials sue British American Tobacco

Russia's top health officer said Monday his governmental agency is suing British American Tobacco's Russian office for misleading consumers, Russian news agencies reported.

Gennady Onishchenko, director of consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor, said he has signed a lawsuit against BAT for "misleading the consumers" and infringing on their rights. Rospotrebnadzor would not specify the nature of the claim.

Alexander Lyuty, corporate and regulatory affairs director at British American Tobacco Russia, said they have not received any official claim and, therefore, are "not aware of its grounds in detail." Lyuty added that BAT is acting "in full accordance with Russian legislation."

Onishchenko launched a ferocious attack on global tobacco companies in July threatening with legal action for "nicotine genocide." He said the corporations are making huge profits at the expense of Russians' health.

On Monday Onishchenko reiterated the claims saying the tobacco producers view Russia as "an uncivilized market where they can sell dangerous and poisonous products." He also accused the companies of lobbying for "barbaric norms for the amount of tar and nicotine in tobacco products."

Russia-based tobacco companies have repeatedly argued that they produce only the highest-quality cigarettes in Russia, many of which they import to European countries.

The details of the claim are still unclear, but market watchers say the suit will focus on "light" and "superlight" labeling on cigarette packs.

Rospotrebnadzor considers them misleading as consumers get the impression that light cigaretters are "better for your health, which they are not," Dmitry Yanin, chairman of the Consumer Societies Confederation, a nonprofit group in Moscow, said following Onishchenko's July attack on the global companies.

The Kremlin has also acknowledged that the country must do more to combat smoking. Russian has recently ratified the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which mandates a series of measures against smoking within five years, including higher prices for cigarettes.

Russian health authorities have been pushing for curbs on tobacco producers. Health warnings on cigarette packs in Russia have been growing bigger in the past few years _ from a half an inch strip running along the pack's bottom to a 2-inch-high square.

Maxim Kulkov, head of commercial practice at Moscow-based Pepeliaev, Goltsblat and Partners, said he does not see any wrongdoing on the companies' part that could document Rospotrebnadzor's claim of misleading information. "The amount of nicotine is indicated on each pack," he said. "The only thing they say is that the cigarettes contain less nicotine and taste lighter."

Kulkov said it is unlikely that this case could open the floodgates for a slew of claims similar to recent tobacco trials in the United States. "Unlike in the U.S., in Russia it is impossible to commence a class action, a lawsuit filed on behalf of a large group of people, such as smokers," he said.

The U.S. stipulation of treble damage does not apply in Russia, which means that claimants cannot seek multimillion damages as is the case in the U.S.

There may be no clear reason why the health authorities targeted BAT specifically but Vadim Zhelnin, director general at Tabakprom, a Russian association of tobacco producers, says "neither BAT nor any other company on the market has broken any laws", judging from Tabakprom's market monitoring. "The 'light' labeling is not banned in this country," he said.