Welcome to the meeting of the Panel of Experts to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
I would like to thank you all very much for responding to the Secretariat’s invitation to serve on the expert panel on the Protocol. By doing so, you have generously agreed to make your expertise and experience available to Parties that are facing difficulties with the process of adhering to the Protocol and later implementing it, or need advice and expertise on specific aspects of this.
As you know, the 6th Conference of the Parties has asked the Secretariat to invite two experts per region maximum to serve on this panel, based on their expertise in areas important for the Protocol, including customs, tax administration and enforcement. We are fortunate to have had a very good response, and there is an impressive level of experience in this room today!
What we are looking forward to receiving your very practical and hands-on support in moving the Protocol forward. As panel members, you will be helping the Secretariat in responding to requests from Parties. This might be in the form of written advice, in-country advice, participation in national meetings, reviewing legislation, supporting data collection and various other ways.
The purpose of this coordination meeting is to develop a common understanding of how your work with the Secretariat and with countries will be carried out, building on the terms of reference you have all kindly accepted. What we hope to see as an outcome are the modalities of your work with countries, both individually and as a group.
As such, this meeting is very different from other meetings organized by the Secretariat. It has not been mandated by the COP, and it is not expected to produce a report, recommendation or other form of written output to be submitted to the COP. It is not a negotiation meeting either. You as experts have not been nominated by your government or organization, and are not here as representatives of your government or organization. It is the Secretariat that has organized this meeting, and we have done so to with the express purpose of developing with you the framework of your work as members of the expert panel. This is what we hope to have at the end of the meeting. Rather than making it up ourselves, we have invited you here to develop this framework and these modalities together with us. We look forward to relying on your ideas and experience in this respect.
In your role as experts assisting countries, you will also very much be ambassadors of the Protocol. So, it is important that everyone is on the same page as far as the messages we give to Parties are concerned.
One of the key messages is of course that Parties must act in accordance with the spirit and provisions of the Convention and the Protocol. Needless to say that this includes not cooperating with the tobacco industry in any way, not entering into partnerships or agreements with them, and not accepting Codentify as an option for a tracking and tracing system.
We should also not promote or support any commercial interests involved in the offer for services to track and trace systems and other relevant services as the advice should emanate from Parties to the Protocol in the forthcoming MOP1, as soon as the Protocol enters into force.
Bottom line is that illicit trade impacts on public health. It increases affordability and availability of tobacco products, promotes sales to and by minors, increases social acceptance of tobacco use and undermines tobacco control efforts. It also decreases revenues from governments and contributes to global illicit trade.
We are also very much looking forward to receiving your input on what the Secretariat is currently doing to promote the entry into force of the Protocol and how we can improve this, and to hear how you think you could contribute to these efforts. Together, we can accelerate the entry into force of the Protocol and help countries to prepare for its implementation!
I wish you a fruitful two days of discussion and exchanges, and also hope you will have a bit of time to enjoy Geneva in the spring.