Australia asked opponents of its plain packaging legislation to stop delaying their World Trade Organisation (WTO) cases while also waiving its right to delay the setting up of a panel of adjudicators to rule on the dispute, Reuters reported.

Entitled to block Indonesia’s first request for a hearing, Australia is understood to have declined this right in the hope that the matter could be dealt with more quickly by acceding to Indonesia's request for a WTO adjudication panel.
An Australian diplomat reportedly told the WTO the, “uncertainty of proceedings and the failure to move towards a settlement was having a ‘regulatory chilling’ effect on other countries thinking of putting their own tobacco rules into place.”
Joining Ukraine, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Cuba as the fifth country to be granted WTO approval to challenge Australia's plain packaging legistlation, Indonesia’s is the third request for a panel following similar moves by Honduras and Ukraine. Australia reportedly complained Honduras took 10 months to request a panel and has since suspended the process, while Dominican Republic needed 16 months before requesting to join talks to establish a panel without confirming when such talks would take place.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo has been asked by Ukraine to nominate panel members, with Australia saying it would ask that Azevedo do the same for Honduras and join the two cases together, the news agency reported.