Press Release: Seventeen countries of the WHO European Region now part of the landmark international tobacco treaty that enters into force this week

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will become international law after its official entry into force on 27 February 2005. Seventeen of the 52 Member States of the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) have ratified the Convention. Norway was the first country in the world to ratify the treaty on 16 June 2003, after it had been adopted by the World Health Assembly in May that year. Among the countries that have since followed suit are Armenia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom from the European Region. As of today, 57 countries of the world have ratified the treaty.