Proposal for a Council Decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, in so far as the provisions of the Protocol which do not fall under Title V of Part III of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union are concerned

The World Health Assembly adopted in 2003 the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which aims at reducing tobacco-related deaths and diseases around the world in a comprehensive manner. To date the FCTC has been ratified by 176 Parties. The EU concluded the FCTC by Council Decision 2004/513/EC of 2 June 2004.

The FCTC recognises that the elimination of illicit trade in tobacco products, including smuggling, illicit manufacturing and counterfeiting, is an essential component of tobacco control, and obliges Parties to adopt and implement effective measures to eliminate illicit trade. Article 33 of the FCTC provides for the possibility for the Conference of the Parties to adopt protocols to the Convention. On the basis of these Articles, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the FCTC, at its second session in June-July 2007, decided to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to negotiate and draft a protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Protocol’).

The Council authorised the Commission to negotiate the Protocol on behalf of the EU in its Decision of 20 December 2007. This Decision amended the negotiating directives for the FCTC with regard to the Protocol. The directives for the FCTC were adopted by the Council on 22 October 1999 and supplemented on 21 April 2001. After its fifth session, the INB decided to recommend that the draft Protocol on which a consensus was obtained be considered at the fifth COP of the FCTC. Accordingly, the fifth COP held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, adopted the Protocol on 12 November 2012.

According to Article 43, the Protocol is open for signature by the Parties to the FCTC in New York until 9 January 2014. By 10 June 2013, 18 Parties had already signed the Protocol. The EU should sign the Protocol as soon as possible.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)538: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:538:FIN

ESO: Background information: EU strategy to step up fight against illicit tobacco trade http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-eu-strategy-to-step-up-fight-against-illicit-tobacco-trade/

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)539: Proposal for a Council Decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, in so far as the provisions of the Protocol are concerned which fall under Title V of Part III of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2013:539:FIN

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)539: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:539:FIN

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