FCTC protocol ratified

The conditions have been met for the entry into force in 90 days of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
The Protocol is the first legally-binding agreement adopted under the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
In a note posted on the FCTC’s website, the Secretariat of the FCTC said on Wednesday that with the ratification of the UK the necessary number of Parties to the Protocol had been reached.
The Protocol was adopted by the Parties to the FCTC in 2012.
It is said by the FCTC ‘to contain a full range of measures to combat illicit trade distributed in three categories: preventing illicit trade, promoting law enforcement and providing the legal basis for international co-operation’.
‘Moreover, it aims to secure the supply chain of tobacco products, through licensing, due diligence and record keeping, and requires the establishment of a global tracking and tracing regime that will allow governments to effectively follow up tobacco products from the point of production to the first point of sale,’ the note said. ‘In order for it to be effective, the Protocol provides for intensive international co-operation including on information sharing, technical and law enforcement, co-operation, mutual legal and administrative assistance, and extradition.
‘Today’s (Wednesday’s) fulfilment of the legal requirements for its entry into force, will allow the Parties to hold the first session of the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOP1) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 8 to 10 October 2018 following the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) of the WHO FCTC.’