Global pact adopted to curb illicit tobacco trade

SOUTH KOREA: More than 170 countries Monday adopted what World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Margaret Chan called a “game-changing” global pact to combat the illegal tobacco trade.

The treaty envisages an international tracking system which aims to halt the smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products -- a trade which accounts for 11 percent of the total tobacco market and costs governments an estimated $40 billion in lost tax revenue.

“This is a game-changing treaty,” Chan said in an address to a meeting in Seoul of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has been ratified by 176 countries since coming into force in 2005.

“This is how we hem in the enemy,” she added, calling the pact a major step towards “eliminating a very sophisticated criminal activity”.

AFP