The 7th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 7) is set to take place in India, Delhi, from 7-12 November 2016. The COP is the most important global anti-tobacco conference, and holds regular sessions at two-year intervals under the auspices of the WHO. The main focus for this year’s session is the review of the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. http://www.who.int/fctc/cop/cop7/Documentation-Main-documents/en/
The Implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC will also be discussed. Parties are also expected to further development the partial guidelines for implementation of Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC, focusing on “Regulation of the contents of tobacco products” and “Regulation of tobacco product disclosures. Other areas of focus for the parties include; control and prevention of global emerging products like water pipe tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems, Economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing (in relation to Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO FCTC), Implementation of Article 19 of the WHO FCTC, Addressing gender-specific risks when developing tobacco control strategies; Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship: depiction of tobacco in entertainment media.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the governing body of the WHO FCTC and is comprised of all Parties to the Convention. It keeps under regular review the implementation of the Convention and takes the decisions necessary to promote its effective implementation, and may also adopt protocols, annexes and amendments to the Convention.
The COP may establish such subsidiary bodies as are necessary to achieve the objective of the Convention. One example is the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. The COP has also established several working groups with the mandate to elaborate guidelines and recommendations for the implementation of different treaty provisions.