FCTC Conference of the Parties Moves Online

The Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Second Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP2) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products will take place virtually, with COP9 running Nov. 8–13, 2021, and MOP2 running Nov. 15–18, 2021.

The meetings were originally scheduled to take place in The Hague. In view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions, the WHO has decided to move the events online.

The virtual format means participants will consider abridged agendas, the WHO wrote on its website. Several issues, including ones relating to tobacco harm reduction, will be deferred for discussion until the next regular meeting of the governing body, COP10, in 2023.