Webinar March 2021 – FCTC COP 9
Peter Beckett
Harry Shapiro
Atakan Befrits
The bi-annual Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP 9) was supposed to take place in The Netherlands last year. It has been pushed back to November of this year due to COVID, and it’s still unclear what format the conference will take. What we do know is that the decision it makes on vaping products will have wide implications for regulation worldwide.
In this context, the Independent European Vape Alliance organized an all-industry webinar to help understand the process of COP 9, what might happen, and how everyone can take action to preserve tobacco harm reduction worldwide.
The webinar took place on March 30, 2021. It featured presentations from:
- Harry Shapiro Lead author of the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction Report, drug reform advocate and longtime Framework Convention watcher..
- Atakan Befrits Secretariat member of INNCO – a grassroots umbrella organization of consumer-focused NGOs. And a former applicant for observer status at the WHO-FCTC Conference of the Parties COP8 in Geneva 2018 – while successful in candidacy to be recognized legitimate stakeholder to WHO-UN High Level Meetings on Non-Communicable Diseases, also in 2018.
- Peter Beckett EU affairs expert and longstanding industry advocate for tobacco harm reduction businesses.
During the webinar, we discussed:
- The history of the Framework Convention and its involvement with vaping?
- What role does the Framework convention play in global tobacco control?
- How decisions are taken at COP, and who influences them?
- How NGOs and consumers have traditionally interacted with COP delegates?
- What oversight do Democratic institutions have in the process?
- What role does the EU play, and how does it come to a common position?
- How can industry and consumers get involved?
