On Wednesday 12 November, the Committee of Member States’ Representatives to the EU (Coreper) will attempt to reach agreement on the EU’s position ahead of the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP11), to be held from 17 to 22 November in Geneva.
Several EU countries, including Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, believe that the EU’s position, which is non-binding, anticipates the forthcoming negotiations on the revision of tobacco legislation (an assessment is currently underway within the European Commission). These countries insist on the voluntary nature of the bans that would be mentioned in the EU’s position for COP11.
Indeed, the draft text on the EU position for COP11 refers to the need to take measures such as banning the manufacture, import, distribution and sale of filtered cigarettes, or introducing restrictions on new tobacco products, in order to protect young people.
Countries such as Italy and Greece do not wish such bans to be mentioned.
Other Member States, on the other hand, are calling for the EU position to include ambitious measures to combat tobacco products.
At the Coreper meeting on Wednesday 5 November, the Member State delegations failed to reach agreement on the EU’s position.
On 22 October, the secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) warned governments and the public that the tobacco industry was “intensifying its efforts to interfere with the work of the COP in order to weaken global tobacco control measures”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)