WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

FCTC
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Parties (orange), signatories (green), non-signatories or not member (grey).
  Parties
  Signatories
  Non-signatories or not member
Effective27 February 2005 (2005-02-27)
Signatories168
Parties182
DepositarySecretary-General of the United Nations

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a treaty adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland on 21 May 2003.[1] It became the first World Health Organization treaty adopted under article 19 of the WHO constitution.[2] The treaty came into force on 27 February 2005.[3] It had been signed by 168 countries and is legally binding in 182 ratifying countries.[3] There are currently 14 United Nations member states that are non-parties to the treaty (eight which have not signed and six of which have signed but not ratified).[4]

The FCTC, one of the most quickly ratified treaties in United Nations history,[5] is a supranational agreement that seeks "to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke" by enacting a set of universal standards stating the dangers of tobacco and limiting its use in all forms worldwide.[1][6] To this end, the treaty's provisions include rules that govern the production, sale, distribution, advertisement, and taxation of tobacco. FCTC standards are, however, minimum requirements, and signatories are encouraged to be even more stringent in regulating tobacco than the treaty requires them to be.[6]

The FCTC represents a watershed moment for international public health; not only was the treaty the first to be adopted under WHO's Article 19, but it also marks one of the first multilateral, binding agreements regarding a chronic, non-communicable disease.

The FCTC was furthermore a watershed moment for the European Union. According to Mamudu and Studlar, since the adoption of the FCTC in 2003, "shared sovereignty through multilevel governance has become the norm in the tobacco control policy area for EU members, including having one international organization negotiate within the context of another."[7] Worldwide tobacco control set a precedent for EU Commission participation and negotiation in multilateral treaties, and further defined the powers and capabilities of the EU as a supranational entity.

The perceived success of the FCTC has fueled calls for many other global health treaties, although a recent review of 90 quantitative impact evaluations of international treaties broadly raises questions about their real-world impact.[8] Four criteria have been put forward to guide the development of follow-on global health treaties.[9]

  1. ^ a b "WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)". WHO. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  2. ^ "Adoption of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". American Journal of International Law. 97 (3). The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 97, No. 3: 689–691. July 2003. doi:10.2307/3109859. JSTOR 3109859. S2CID 229169150.
  3. ^ a b "Updated status of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". WHO. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  4. ^ "WHO Member States (by regions) that are NOT parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". WHO. Archived from the original on 22 March 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  5. ^ Nikogosian, Haik (2010). "WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: a key milestone". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 88 (2): 83. doi:10.2471/blt.10.075895. PMC 2814489. PMID 20428359.
  6. ^ a b Brandt, Allan M. The Cigarette Century: the Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America. New York: Basic, 2007. Print.
  7. ^ Mamudu, Hadii M.; Studlar, Donley T. (2009). "Multilevel Governance and Shared Sovereignty: European Union, Member States, and the FCTC". Governance. 22 (1): 73–97. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0491.2008.01422.x. ISSN 0952-1895. PMC 2900849. PMID 20622934. NIHMSID 164599.
  8. ^ Hoffman, SJ; Røttingen, JA (January 2015). "Assessing the Expected Impact of Global Health Treaties: Evidence from 90 Quantitative Evaluations". American Journal of Public Health. 105 (1): 26–40. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302085. PMC 4265908. PMID 25393196.
  9. ^ Hoffman, SJ; Røttingen, JA; Frenk, J (2015). "Assessing Proposals for New Global Health Treaties: An Analytic Framework". American Journal of Public Health. 105 (8): 1523–30. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302726. PMC 4504317. PMID 26066926.