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Tag: MOP3

  • EU Tracking System Under Fire in Panama

    EU Tracking System Under Fire in Panama

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    During the meeting in Panama of the parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (MOP3), European Member of Parliament Anne-Sophie Pelletier today expressed her concerns about the shortcomings of the European tobacco product tracing system.

    According to Pelletier, the Dentsu tracking system fails to comply with World Health Organization protocol—which the EU ratified in 2016—in part due to its association with the tobacco business.

    Dentsu’s system is split between IT firms that operate information-tracking databases on those codes for individual manufacturers and importers, and an overarching level that gathers all that data into a “secondary data repository.” At the end of 2018, Dentsu Tracking, a subsidiary of Japan’s Dentsu Group, was awarded a contract to operate this secondary repository.

    During a debate in Brussels on Feb. 8, European lawmakers highlighted the inefficiency of the European tobacco product tracing system, with several member states lamenting an increase in the level of tobacco parallel trade since its implementation in 2019.

    Furthermore, European parliamentarians questioned the choice of Dentsu Tracking as the provider, and that company’s recruitment of Jan Hoffmann, a former official of the EU’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante), as director of its regulatory affairs and compliance division.

    Dentsu has denied that Hoffman had any part in either awarding the contract to the company during his stint at DG Sante, or that he is using his Commission contacts to help the company in any way. “His hiring at Dentsu was carried out in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations,” Dentsu Tracking’s CEO Philippe Castella was quoted as saying by Politico in 2023.

  • New COP and MOP Dates Announced

    New COP and MOP Dates Announced

    Photo: JeromeMaurice

    The World Health Organization has announced the dates for the resumed in-person sessions of the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the third session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP3) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

    Following communication received from Panama, the host country of COP10 and MOP3, and in consultation with the Bureaus of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC and of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, the dates for the resumed in-person sessions of COP10 and MOP3 have now been set as follows:

    • Resumed COP10: Feb. 5-10, 2024
    • Resumed MOP3: Feb 12-15, 2024
  • Postponed COP to Prioritize ENDS Rules

    Postponed COP to Prioritize ENDS Rules

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The regulation of new and emerging e-cigarette, heated-tobacco and nicotine products will be one of the central topics of discussion at the COP10-MOP3 international tobacco control conferences next year, said Adriana Blanco, head of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in a virtual press conference on Nov. 14, reported ECigIntelligence.

    Speaking from the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Blanco said that proposals to create more stringent rules and health guidelines to govern new tobacco and nicotine product use will be prioritized at the COP10 (10th Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC) and the MOP3 (third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products), which will now take place in Panama next year.

  • WHO Releases Provisional Agendas

    WHO Releases Provisional Agendas

    Photo: Alexey Novikov

    The World Health Organization has released its provisional agendas for the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (MOP3), the FCTC announced on its website.

    Held in Panama, COP10 will take place Nov. 20-25 and MOP3 will take place Nov. 27-30.

    The provisional COP10 agenda is here and the provisional MOP3 agenda is here. Participants in COP10 can register here and participants in MOP3 can register here.

    Guidance on registration is also available on the FCTC website.

    The FCTC is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003, and entered into force on Feb. 27, 2005.

    The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products is the first protocol to the FCTC, and a new international treaty in its own right. The Protocol builds upon and complements Article 15 of the FCTC, which addresses means of countering illicit trade in tobacco products. It was adopted by consensus on Nov. 12, 2012, at the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC in Seoul and entered into force on Sept. 25, 2018. The Protocol currently includes 67 Parties.