29 MAY 2015 - New Delhi, 29 May 2015: To commemorate the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO), today organized a national consultation on ‘Illicit trade of tobacco products’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance. The consultation provided a platform to address this issue with stakeholders and garner their commitment to respond to the health, financial, legal, economic, and governance impact of the illicit trade of tobacco products.

In line with the theme for World No Tobacco Day 2015, ‘Stop illicit trade of tobacco products’, WHO is calling on countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.

Present at the consultation were: Mr Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW); Dr Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, MoHFW; Mr Najib Shah, Member, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Ministry of Finance; Mr C.K. Mishra, Additional Secretary, MoHFW; Dr Tim Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, World Bank, amongst other eminent industry experts, academia, nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Najib Shah, Member, CBEC, highlighted that illicit trade of tobacco products is a matter of serious concern. “While we have made some excellent interdictions but due to high profit margins, the illicit trade is thriving. To control this menace, we need greater cooperation amongst stakeholders, national and international,” he said.

“We are co-hosts of this important consultation and are in solidarity with the cause of tobacco control,” he added.

In his address, Mr Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary (Health & Family Welfare), Government of India said, “Illicit trade in tobacco products is a global problem. It undermines tobacco control policies and also leads to significant revenue losses. The elimination of all forms of illicit trade including smuggling and illegal manufacturing is therefore an essential component of tobacco control.”

“Tobacco control is not just a health issue. It is a multi-sectoral issue, needing a dedicated mission-control approach to tackle it,” he added.

In her World No Tobacco Day message, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization, South-East Asia Region said, “Tobacco has a devastating social, environmental and economic impact on our communities. Illicit trade in tobacco products undermines our tobacco control efforts and negatively impacts pricing policies. I would like to recommend placing greater importance on information collection and sharing on a national and International level in order to develop effective strategies to respond to this threat.”

In response to the threat posed by illicit tobacco trade, the international community negotiated and adopted in November 2012 the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, the first protocol to the WHO FCTC. The protocol gives the world a unique legal instrument for countering and eventually eliminating illicit tobacco trade. So far, 53 countries and the European Union are signatories to the Protocol and eight have ratified it.

Speaking at the consultation, Dr Arun Thapa, Acting WHO Representative to India said, “The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products is the first protocol to the WHO FCTC and provides tools for preventing and counteracting illicit trade through control of the supply chain, and a package of national measures and international cooperation. India was one of the first few countries to ratify the WHO FCTC and we are sure that India will take the lead in ratifying the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products as well.”

The consultation saw active deliberations on the issues of implementation of the tracking tracing mechanism; enforcement measures in supply chain control for combating tobacco smuggling; illicit manufacturing and illicit trade on tobacco and tobacco products; reinforcing policies to combat illicit tobacco trade; and the WHO FCTC Illicit Trade Protocol.

The consultation strongly advocated that the governments must establish or reinforce a national multisectoral and inter-ministerial coordinating mechanism for the implementation of the WHO FCTC in each state.

On the occasion, the World No Tobacco Day Awards were also announced. Every year, the World Health Organization recognizes individuals or organizations for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control such as research, capacity building, promotion of policy or legislation and advocacy to enhance tobacco control.

The World No Tobacco Day 2015 Award Winners from India are:

Recipients of HQ's World No Tobacco Day 2015 awards

• Mr Surendra Singh Negi, Cabinet Minister of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Government of State of Uttarakhand
• Mr Amal Pusp, Director, MoHFW, Government of India

Recipient of Regional Director’s appreciation awards

• State Tobacco Control Cell, Directorate of Health Services, Government of NCT of Delhi
• Joint Award to Public Private Partnership in Mizoram to Indian Society Tobacco and Health and Mizoram State Tobacco Control Society, and Tobacco Control Cell, Government of Punjab, Chandigarh, India

For more information, please contact:

Mr Rajeev Varma
Senior Communications Officer
WHO India Country Office
New Delhi
Tel: 91-11-47594800
Mobile: +91 8826611139
E-mail:varmar@who.int

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