A global meeting focused on ending illicit trade in tobacco products opens here today.
The Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products brings together 68 Parties that have been working together to halt illegal trade in tobacco products. The meeting, which runs from 12 to 15 February, is the third such gathering of the Parties to the Protocol and the first since 2021.
Illicit trade accounts for about 11% of total global tobacco trade, and its elimination could increase global tax revenues by an estimated US$ 47.4 billion annually.
"The tobacco industry claims to fight illicit trade, but it actually profits from it," said Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, Head of the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).
"Implementing the Protocol generates substantial funds for Parties, as it safeguards important tax revenues that can be utilized by governments to finance sustainable development," she said.
The Meeting of the Parties will review the extensive efforts underway to implement a tracking and tracing system, which is an important step in eliminating illicit trade.
A key component of the global tracking and tracing regime is the global information-sharing focal point, and the first phase of that initiative will begin to become available to Parties once the meeting concludes.
Following an initial pilot phase, the new system will be open to all Parties to the Protocol, helping them to further secure the tobacco supply chain and assist in investigations.
The Meeting of the Parties will also consider ways to improve implementation of the Protocol, determine the road ahead and highlight the need for additional evidence-based research. Reporting and information-sharing mechanisms will also be considered, as the sharing of experiences and best practices among Parties is key to advancing the fight against illicit trade.
In addition to the Parties that are signatories to the Protocol, which is an international treaty, the meeting will host observers, including countries that are not yet Parties to the treaty.
Less than six years after its entry into force, the Protocol continues to expand, with Paraguay, Poland, the Republic of Moldova and Rwanda being the latest to join, and the goal is to see all 183 Parties to the WHO FCTC also sign on to the Protocol.
The WHO FCTC, which also is an international public health treaty, held the tenth session of its Conference of the Parties here from 5 to 10 February.
Notes to editors:
This is the first in-person Meeting of the Parties since 2018, with earlier meetings held remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products explained
The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products is the first protocol to the WHO FCTC, and a new international treaty in its own right. It builds upon and complements Article 15 of the WHO FCTC, which addresses means of countering illicit trade in tobacco products, a key aspect of a comprehensive tobacco control policy.
It was adopted by consensus on 12 November 2012 at the Fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC and entered into force on 25 September 2018.
The Protocol currently includes 68 Parties. It was developed in response to the growing concern regarding illicit trade in tobacco products, which poses a serious threat to public health. Illicit trade increases the accessibility and affordability of tobacco products, thus fuelling the tobacco epidemic and undermining tobacco control policies.
It also causes substantial losses in government tax revenues, and at the same time contributes to the funding of transnational criminal activities.