Geneva, October 16, 2014 – Yesterday at the WHO FCTC’s Conference of the Parties (COP6) in Moscow, guidelines on price and tax measures (Article 6) were hurriedly adopted behind closed doors, further demonstrating the FCTC’s habit of infringing on issues of national sovereignty.
“Public health authorities are not fiscal experts”, said Michiel Reerink, Global Regulatory Strategy Vice President at JTI (Japan Tobacco International). “Yet, one-size-fits-all decisions were rushed in the absence of a vast majority of governments’ taxation experts, who should have the last say on their individual fiscal policies”. [...]
The FCTC’s October 15, 2014 Journal stated: “Several parties wanted to record their reservations concerning the footnote related to section 3.2 stressing their sovereign right to develop their taxation policies. The draft decision contained in FCTC/COP/6/A/Conf. Paper No. 5 was approved without amendment. The agenda item was then closed.”