Members of the Parliament Hanna Hopko and Ihor Lutsenko called on to endorse the World Health Organization Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (“FCTC Protocol”).
At a news conference on November the 30th, the two politicians called upon, together with a range of community leaders, to promptly ratify the above deed to eliminate the illegal tobacco trafficking, and then appealed to the presidential administration for immediate sending the tobacco draft bill to the Parliament for validation.
The protocol in question is the first document attached to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Framework Convention), which was ratified by Ukraine in 2006. The deed is aimed at wiping out each and every emersion of the illegal tobacco trading.
Inasmuch as Ukraine appears to be the world’s biggest tobacco trafficker to the EU countries, it does indeed produce a negative political public image alongside with certain hindrances to building up international cooperation.
This is the reason why the tobacco protocol ratification shall eminently contribute in flagging internationally about the country’s readiness to fight the tobacco products smuggling.
According to Hanna Hopko, the endorsement of this document additionally constitutes honouring the international commitments Ukraine entered into within the framework of the European Union Association Agreement (Article 352) and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Article 15).
Worthy of note
The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, the first Protocol to the Convention, was adopted on 12 November 2012 at the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties in Seoul, Republic of Korea, and is currently open for ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by the Parties to the WHO FCTC. As of December the 1st, seven more parties are needed to make the protocol enter into force.