Greetings to everyone from the HQ of the Convention Secretariat here in Geneva.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this webinar, which is jointly organized with WHO and the World Customs Organization.
We are accustomed in tobacco control to thinking about how to achieve our public health goals by engaging with a broad range of sectors and leveraging our multisectoral partnerships. And with the entry into force of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, the importance of expanding that collaboration to customs agencies is clear. But few in the tobacco control community are likely to have considered the very important role of customs classification in implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control itself. Today’s webinar not only will highlight for us this less understood but important connection, it is in fact very timely, as key amendments to the World Customs Organization Harmonized System Code will enter into force from 1 January 2022.
We will explore, today, how the application of this Code by its Contracting Parties, who are in turn, Party to the Convention, has a direct impact on effective tobacco control efforts at the national level.
Appropriate classification of tobacco products and nicotine products is essential to enable Parties to the WHO FCTC to appropriately regulate these products.
The appearance and growth in the market of novel tobacco products and nicotine products poses challenges for the comprehensive application of the Convention and, in the end, the effectiveness of our efforts to control the tobacco epidemic.
Countries are urged to be vigilant in the face of efforts by the tobacco industry to use every means possible to create an opportunity for these products to receive reduced regulatory scrutiny and possibly evade effective tobacco control measures.
The Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC provides specific guidance, through its decisions and guidelines for implementation of the treaty, on how to adapt evidence-based measures proven to be the most effective for implementation of tobacco control.
For example, tax and price policies, in line with Article 6 of the Convention, are recognized as some of the most effective means of reducing demand for and consumption of tobacco products.
However, in order for Parties to the WHO FCTC to effectively implement these and other measures, they must be in a position to ensure that specific products are, in fact, subject to the intended regulation, thus achieving the necessary policy objectives. And appropriate classification of products plays a key role in this.
Today's event is an opportunity to better understand the upcoming changes to the Harmonized System Code so as to support national tobacco control objectives, in accordance with the WHO FCTC. And we are very grateful for the essential participation of our colleagues from WCO, an observer to the Conference of the Parties in helping us in this task today.
Thank you very much for joining us, and we look forward to an interesting discussion.