Adopting FCTC in Seoul, signatories trounce Big Tobacco 

Despite pressure tactics from the tobacco industry, ratifying countries unanimously adopted a landmark protocol to eliminate the illicit trade of tobacco, Corporate Accountability International said in a statement Tuesday.

 

Such illicit trade undermines tobacco regulation, while generating huge profits for smugglers and manufacturers of tobacco products. It also costs governments billions of dollars in lost revenues, while raising law enforcement and health care expenditures.

 

Signatories to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) adopted the protocol during the Fifth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control from November 12 to 17 in Seoul, South Korea.

 

They noted that after pressure from civil society, the Philippine government excluded the National Tobacco Authority (NTA), which promotes tobacco industry interests, from its official delegation in Seoul. 

 

“Today’s decisions on the illicit trade protocol and efforts to keep industry interference at bay are a strong reminder of the power behind this treaty and the unanimous commitment to independent negotiations and implementation,” said Irene Reyes, public health lawyer and Network for the Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) member.

 

“We are optimistic that Seoul's negotiations will further insulate lifesaving progress from industry attack," Reyes, also of Health Justice in the Philippines, added.

 

Last April, negotiators from 135 nations sealed an anti-tobacco trafficking treaty, which could net governments $50 billion more in annual tax revenues. 

 

The World Health Organization, which administers the treaty, deemed the tobacco industry’s interference in the negotiations and implementation of the treaty as the single greatest threat to its success, the statement read.

 

Adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2003 and entered into force in February 2005, the FCTC was "developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health."   

“For nearly five years, Big Tobacco has fought tooth and nail throughout these negotiations in an effort to undermine progress, thwart public health policy and police itself with regards to illicit trade,” Reyes noted.

 

“… [B]ut the text of the final Protocol reflects delegates’ resolve to maintain the spirit and letter of the FCTC to stand together for public health and against Big Tobacco. 

 

“However, though we may have insulated the negotiations from Big Tobacco, the struggle now will be to protect the Protocol’s implementation,” Reyes added.

 

Adoption of the protocol is just one of many outcomes expected this week on protecting it against interference from proponents of the tobacco industry, said Corporate Accountability International. 

 

Other highlights of COP5 include: guidelines on price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, policy recommendations with regard to economically viable alternatives to tobacco growing, matters related to smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes, as well as a review of resources and mechanisms of assistance to promote implementation of the convention. 

 

Corporate Accountability noted that during the opening plenary on November 12, parties to the treaty did not approve the official observer status of Interpol, the international law enforcement agency. 

 

The decision was due to widespread concern over a recent contribution of Philip Morris International for Interpol operations against illegal trade in tobacco products,” it said.

 

The treaty’s Article 5.3 prohibits official status to any organization that has a direct affiliation with the tobacco industry, Corporate Accountability added.

 

Article 5.3 of the Convention requires that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law." 

 

According to Corporate Accountability, other issues to be taken up this week include a challenge to the Czech Republic’s attempts to cherry pick ratification, claiming it has a right to engage Big Tobacco on its public health policy.

 

Guidelines for tobacco taxation, a re-commitment to hold the tobacco industry liable for its abuses, and a declaration to protect public health over trade – a reference to industry’s attempts to bully countries through intimidation by litigation strategies – will also be discussed in Seoul. — Carmela G. Lapeña/VS, GMA News