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New International Rules to Combat Tobacco Smuggling Commended

Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”

(New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation today commended delegations from more than 170 countries for adopting a new international protocol that sets out rules for combating tobacco smuggling. The rules were adopted on the first day of the Fifth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the first global treaty governing public health.

At the heart of the new Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (the ITP) – including smuggling and illegal manufacturing – is an agreement to establish a global tracking and tracing system. This will reduce tobacco smuggling by making it easier to distinguish between legal and illicit products, enhancing cooperation between countries and facilitating investigations. The system also will improve control of the legal tobacco trade through improved licensing, record keeping, due diligence, and tracing of legal tobacco products. The ITP will come into effect 90 days after its ratification by the Parties to the WHO FCTC.

Peter Baldini, Chief Executive Officer, World Lung Foundation commented: “The Tobacco Industry often uses the spectre of illicit trade as a barrier to the adoption of other critically important tobacco control measures, such as taxation and plain packaging. By adopting these new rules, the global community is simultaneously addressing smuggling and removing a platform for distraction on other policies that can reduce tobacco use. We applaud the delegations for this action and support the international co-operation that will make these new rules a reality.”

After the adoption of the ITP by the Conference of the Parties in Seoul this week, the ITP will:

• Be open for signature by the Parties for one year, starting 10 January 2013

• Go through the ratification process in each country, according to national law

• Enter into force (90 days after it has received 40 ratifications).

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the world today, and is responsible for more than five million deaths each year—one in ten preventable deaths worldwide. In addition to implementation of the WHO FCTC, WLF also supports the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.

 


 

 

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