Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the UK delegation attending the fourth Meeting of Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control plans to (a) oppose the extension of the scope of application of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products beyond tobacco products to electronic nicotine delivery services and (b) help ensure that proposed amendments of the Treaty follow the proper procedures.

The procedures for amending the World Health Organization Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products are laid down in Articles 38 and 39 of that treaty. These stipulate that any proposals need to be communicated to parties at least six months before the session at which they are proposed to be adopted.

As no such communication has been made in this case, if any proposals for extending the Treaty to electronic nicotine delivery services were to emerge, they would need to be considered at a future Meeting of Parties (MOP) rather than this MOP. The UK would always seek to ensure that any proposals to amend the Treaty follow the proper procedures.