WHAT IS THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL?

The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) was founded in 1999 and is now made up of more than 350 organizations from more than 100 countries working on the development, ratification, and implementation of the international treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The FCTC is the world’s first global public health treaty, and requires parties to adopt a comprehensive range of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco.
The treaty requires ratifying countries to:

• Enact comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
• Ban the use of misleading and deceptive terms such as “light”, “low-tar” and “mild”;
• undertake comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
• require the placement of rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that cover at least 30 percent (and should cover 50 percent or more) of the principal display areas and may include pictures or pictograms;
• ban the use of misleading and deceptive packaging and labelling of tobacco products, including use of terms such as “light” and “mild”;
• protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke in indoor workplaces, public transport and indoor public places;
• adopt or maintain taxation policies aimed at reducing tobacco consumption;
• and combat illicit trade in tobacco products, including by requiring markings of origin and destination on packs, monitoring, documenting and controlling the movement of products, and enacting legislation with appropriate penalties and remedies.
  

The FCTC entered into force in February 2005, was signed by 168 of the 192 WHO Member States and 156 WHO Member States have become Parties to the Convention. Momentum must be maintained by supporting the development of effective guidelines and protocols; assisting and monitoring governments’ ratification activities; ensuring effective tobacco control legislation and policy; and monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the treaty

Why do we need the FCTC?
As the Foreword to the FCTC notes, the treaty was ‘developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic'. At present there are about 5 million deaths each year worldwide due to tobacco-related disease, with the balance split approximately equally between developed and developing countries. By 2030, if present trends continue unchecked, the figure will have increased to 10 million deaths each year, with 70% of these lives lost in developing countries.

We live in a world of powerful multinational tobacco companies, vast volumes of tobacco products, including contraband and counterfeit products, transported easily across borders, and an unprecedented range of cross-border media used in transnational marketing. The FCTC exists because countries recognize that in a globalized world, they cannot adequately combat the tobacco epidemic on their own. An internationally coordinated response is essential.

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