보건복지부 영문홈페이지

176 countries around the world to resolve tobacco control in Seoul

-       The Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC will hold its 5^th session in Seoul (Nov. 12^th to 17^th, 2012) –

-       A protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products will be adopted –

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Rim Chemin) said that the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)* will hold its 5^th session at the COEX in Seoul from November 12^th (Mon.) to 17^th (Sat.).

* FCTC: an international treaty adopted by the World Health Assembly (WHA) to cope with the tobacco epidemic. (Korea adopted it in 2005.)

 

About 1,000 people including delegates from 176 Parties, observers, international organizations, and related non-government groups attending the meeting will review the implementation status of the Convention, and adopt a protocol and guidelines necessary for the implementation following discussions.

 

Notable participants in the session include WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, President of the COP Ricardo Valera (Uruguay), around 20 ministerial officials including Australia's Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, and other figures in public health service area from the 176 countries.

 

During the session, Delegation of Korea (chief delegate is Health Minister Rim Chemin) will discuss ways to cooperate on health policies with his counterparts from the parties.

 

The 5^th session held in Seoul is expected to adopt a protocol for the first time since the WHO FCTC has taken effect in 2005.

* Protocol: adopted when stipulating over a certain issue other than general rules of the FCTC, and is an international treaty in itself.

 

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) established in 2008 held five meetings to discuss the Protocol of Article 15 of the Convention, “Illicit trade in tobacco products,” and agreed on the draft during the 5^th round of the meetings in March, 2012.

 

Illicit distribution and trade, such as smuggling and counterfeiting, result in a revenue loss of 40.5 billion US dollars* every year, and these illicit acts mainly take place in the trade routes from Russia and China to Canada, the US, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.

* “How eliminating global illicit cigarette trade would increase tax revenue and save lives” (2009)

-       This illicit trading increases the accessibility and affordability of tobacco products, and eventually contributes to higher smoking prevalence in the youth and low-income populations.

 

In order to solve this issue with the help of global cooperation, the Protocol on the elimination of illicit tobacco product trade will be adopted during the session held in Seoul.

- The Protocol will lay a legal basis on the control of the supply chain from manufacturing and selling tobacco products, as well as punitive measures, and contain ways of international cooperation against unlawful conduct commonly taking place in several countries.

 

* EU countries including the United Kingdom are currently operating various systems such as a fiscal marking on tobacco packaging, a tobacco business registration system, and the control of the tobacco supply chain.

 

- Within five years of entry into force of this Protocol, all parties are required to attach a unique identification marking containing information of the place of origin and distribution areas to all cigarette packaging. (Article 8)

 

Korea now has less illicit tobacco trade than other countries due to comparatively cheaper prices, but may be faced with illicit trading in the future due to price increases.

- The adoption of the Protocol is meaningful as it could prevent possible tobacco-related problems caused by future price hikes.

 

Once adopted in the 5^th session, the Protocol will take effect as an international treaty after being ratified by 40 parties.

- Korea will also have a ratification process, and be required to enact or revise related national laws.

 

The COP has developed and adopted* guidelines for each article of the Convention, and is expected to adopt another guidelines on Article 6 "Price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco" during the 5^th session.

* 2^nd session (Article 8), 3^rd session (Item 3 under Article 5, Article 11, and Article 13), 4^th session (Articles 9, 10, 12, and 14)

 

The guidelines suggest 11 recommendations including the periodic and automatic tax adjustment mechanism concerning inflation and price elasticity; mixed excise structure which sets the minimum specific tax floor and levies ad valorem tax; and attaching a fiscal marking to cigarette packaging.

-       It also recommends the prevention of selling tax-free or duty-free tobacco products in border areas and duty free shops. Once the guideline is adopted, it would be hard to find duty-free tobacco at international airports around the world.

 

The session will also discuss the further development of the guidelines of Articles 9 and 10 "Regulation of the contents of tobacco products and Regulation of tobacco product disclosures;" policies and recommendations regarding Articles 17 and 18 “Provision of support for economically viable alternative activities and Protection of the environment and the health of people;" and regulations on smokeless/electronic cigarettes.

 

On November 17^th, (Sat.), the last day of the session, the Bureau of the COP for the 6^th session will be elected*.

* The Bureau of the COP is the highest decision-making body in the convention and consists of regional representatives from the six WHO areas, and its president holds the post of the COP for two years.

Chairman Moon Changjin (the Korea Health Promotion Foundation) is expected to be nominated as a representative of the Western Pacific Regional Office, where Korea belongs to, and will run for the next presidential post.

 

Through the successful hosting of the 5^th session of the FCTC, Korea expects to take a great leap in strengthening no-smoking policies.

 

Regarding this issue, on September 10^th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare made a preannouncement of the revisions on the National Health Promotion Act in order to help the implementation of the WHO FCTC.

* Period: September 10^th to November 9^th, 2012. Refer to the press release distributed by the ministry on September 6^th (“Making a healthy Korea with new policies to cut down on drinking and smoking to the levels of developed nations”).

 

The revisions include the introduction of a warning image, the prohibiting of misleading phrases on cigarette packaging, and making cigarette ingredients open to the public, and the ministry will directly carry out the enforcement and recommendations of the WHO FCTC.