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The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), an international alliance of morethan 300 non-governmental organizations, urges countries to negotiate a strongtreaty that can help reduce tobacco use and its devastating health andfinancial consequences around the world.
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Tobacco use currently claims more than five million lives worldwide eachyear, and that number is projected to double by 2020, with 70 percent of thesedeaths in developing nations, according to the World Health Organization(WHO).(1) It also costs nations huge sums annually in health care costs andlost productivity.
Illicit trade refers primarily to the smuggling and counterfeiting oftobacco products, which are the world's most widely smuggled legal consumerproduct. The illicit trade treaty will be a supplementary treaty, or protocol,to the existing WHO tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention onTobacco Control (FCTC), which became international law in February 2005.
The FCTC obligates ratifying nations, which now number 152, to implementeffective measures to reduce tobacco use, including higher tobacco taxes,strong health warnings, laws requiring smoke-free workplaces and publicplaces, and bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. However,illicit tobacco trade undermines the effectiveness of many of these measures,especially higher tobacco taxes, and encourages smoking, especially amongprice-sensitive young people, by making cigarettes available cheaply.
"By supporting a strong illicit trade treaty, nations can strengthen theirown efforts to reduce tobacco use and help their people live longer andhealthier lives," said Laurent Huber, Director of the Framework ConventionAlliance. "Smuggled and counterfeit tobacco products undermine nationaltobacco control policies, especially tobacco taxes, and contribute to highertobacco consumption and more smoking-related illness and death."
It has been estimated(2) that illicit trade accounted for 10.7 percent ofglobal cigarette sales in 2006, or about 600 billion cigarettes. This analysisfound that the illicit tobacco trade deprives governments of $US 40-50 billionin tax revenue each year. This is greater than the GDPs of two-thirds of theworld's countries.(3)
In addition to being a public health problem and a financial problem, theillicit tobacco trade is also a law and order problem, and even a threat tointernational security. There is evidence that the illicit tobacco trade iscarried out by transnational criminal groups and has been used to raise fundsfor terrorist organizations.(4)
Nations that are party to the WHO tobacco control treaty agreed in July2007 to negotiate the supplementary treaty on illicit trade. They did so toprevent illicit trade from undermining other tobacco control efforts and inrecognition that the illicit tobacco trade is a transnational problem thatcannot be addressed without a comprehensive system of internationalcooperation. Countries have set a goal of completing the illicit trade treatyby 2010.
The Framework Convention Alliance is urging governments to include thefollowing provisions in the illicit trade protocol:
The Framework Convention Alliance is made up of over 300 organizationsrepresenting over 100 countries around the world. It was created to supportthe development, ratification, and implementation of the WHO FCTC. For moreinformation, including a list of members, visit www.fctc.org.
(1) World Health Organization, Building Blocks for Tobacco Con
