Djarum Clove Cigarettes

The US food and drug administration (FDA) banned production, sales and distribution of all clove cigarettes in America in September 2009. FDA claimed most of the young Americans especially high school students were victims of such cigars. The legislation restricted only cigarettes with flavors of clove, cinnamon, strawberry or cherry, but not menthol. Indonesia being the largest producer of Djarum clove cigarettes was severely affected with that ban. The country made a formal protest against the unilateral prohibition saying the clove and menthol cigars are like products and there was no justification in such a banning.

Also, Indonesia made a strong argument against the discrimination by courting a US health report that shows statistics of young smokers of both clove and menthol cigars in America. The report says around 43% of young smokers use menthol cigarettes while less than 1% of such smokers consume the clove cigarettes. The world trade organization (WTO) strongly supported the claim of Indonesia and questioned the authenticity of the FDA restriction. The WTO showed the apprehension that the banning was imposed to protect the interest of local manufacturer like Philip Morris producing menthol cigars.

Since 99% of clove cigarettes were imported from countries other than the United States and menthol cigarettes are produced entirely by American tobacco manufacturer, the imposed ban is discriminatory and intentional as per WTO. The world trade body also noted the regulation violates the trade agreement like GATT. Although, there was a ban on sale of Djarum black cigarettes, a consumer can order these cigars through online for personal use only.