Consensus and progress are two words that best describe yesterday’s Committee A sessions at this 2nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The issues up for discussion were; illicit trade; domestic and cross border advertising and sponsorship; and priority setting of the COP agenda.
Parties unanimously agreed to have an open ended intergovernmental negotiation body (INB) established to do further work on a protocol on illicit trade (Article 15). There was also consensus among governments to establish a working group to draft the guidelines for the implementation Article 13- ban on domestic and cross border advertising, promotion and sponsorship. This working group would also be mandated to present at COP3, recommendations on key elements of a protocol on cross border advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Another issue discussed by Committee A was the priorities that were to be set by the second session of the Conference of the parties (COP2) for further work before the COP3. The Parties had to choose from the following list: product regulation; (Article 9 and 10), Packaging and labeling (Article 11) and education and training (Article 12); cross border advertising, promotion and sponsorship; illicit trade; and crop diversification. Product regulation (Article 9 and 10 of the FCTC) featured on top of many Parties’ lists of priorities. Work on Article 9 and 10 had already started. Several governments also expressed their wish to have Article 5.3 to be considered as a priority. Article 5.3 obligates Parties to “ protect these [public health ] policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.” The rationale given for prioritizing Article 5.3 was that it cuts across all articles of the FCTC and that its observance will influence the successful implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Click here to access relevant docments related to this session.
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