The Secretary-General received the following communications relating to the interpretative declaration made by the Czech Republic upon ratification:
Czech Republic (July 8, 2016)
"On the Communication of Australia to the Interpretative Declaration of the Czech Republic to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ("Convention") concerning Article 5.3 of the Convention
First, the Czech Republic confirms that it has taken note of the Communication of Australia to the Interpretative Declaration made by the Czech Republic to Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ("Convention") concerning Article 5.3 (General obligations) of the Convention.
In response, the Czech Republic refers to its previous Communication on the related Communication of Uruguay 2, where the reasons for the Interpretative Declaration of the Czech Republic in respect of Article 5.3 of the Convention are fully explained.
With regard to point No. 1 of the Communication of Australia, the Czech Republic emphasizes its awareness of the fact that the Convention does not recognize any "right to non-discriminatory treatment of the tobacco industry". The purpose of the Interpretative Declaration made by the Czech Republic is to confirm that at the same time the Convention does not prohibit the "non-discriminatory treatment of the tobacco industry" and thereby maintains, within the commitments made in the Convention, the possibility of certain level of interaction with the tobacco industry.
Finally, the current national legislative and other initiatives related to the prevention of tobacco use may be considered as evidence of the immense effort of the Czech Republic in promoting tobacco control and the implementation of the Convention including its Article 5.3."
The Secretary-General received the following communications relating to the interpretative declaration made by the Czech Republic upon ratification:
Czech Republic (January 10, 2013)
"On the Communication of Uruguay to the Interpretative Declaration of the Czech Republic to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Concerning Article 5(3) FCTC:
When depositing the FCTC ratification instrument, the Czech Republic made an Interpretative Declaration to the FCTC. This Declaration is solely of an interpretative nature and the Czech Republic thereby raised no reservations against the text of the FCTC; under Article 30 of the FCTC this is not even possible. Under no circumstances the Czech Republic, by means of this act, challenges the obligations imposed on the Parties by the FCTC.
On Article 5(3) of the FCTC the Czech Republic declares that it 'considers Article 5(3) a provision not affecting the right to non-discriminatory treatment of the tobacco industry by the Parties and thus permitting the necessary extent of cooperation with the tobacco industry as regards tobacco control'. This statement was made to alleviate certain concerns and possibly misunderstandings, which some Czech competent authorities expressed regarding the interpretation of Article 5(3). Some public administration tasks require limited contact with the tobacco industry, such as consultations with all relevant subjects concerned, including tobacco industry, while preparing a regulatory impact assessment of a new legislation related to tobacco products regulation, performance of reporting and control tasks, etc.
After all, a certain level of interaction of the Parties to the FCTC with the tobacco industry is mentioned also by the Guidelines for implementation of Article 5(3) - Principle No. 2 'Establish measures to limit interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of those interactions that occur.' The Declaration thus corresponds with Recommendation No. 2.1 under this Principle, according to which 'the parties should interact with the tobacco industry only when and to the extent strictly necessary to enable them to effectively regulate the tobacco industry and tobacco products.'
Naturally, all necessary interactions are done in full awareness of the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and the interests of the public health protection. It should also be stressed that the word 'cooperation' used in the Czech Interpretative Declaration should be interpreted as not exceeding the sense of the 'interaction' which is mentioned in the Guidelines for implementation of Article 5(3)."
Declaración realizada en el momento de la ratificación:
"La República Checa hace la siguiente declaración interpretativa respecto del Convenio:
La República Checa acoge con agrado la cooperación internacional en el ámbito del control del tabaco con el fin de fortalecer la salud pública. La República Checa declara que no considera que las directrices adoptadas por la Conferencia de las Partes sean instrumentos que establecen obligaciones jurídicas en virtud del Convenio. La República Checa declara que no apoyará las propuestas de modificación del Convenio o relativas a sus Protocolos que se hallen en conflicto con sus principios constitucionales derivados de su pertenencia a la Unión Europea y de los acuerdos internacionales de libre comercio en los que sea parte. La República Checa declara asimismo que considera que el párrafo 3) del artículo 5 no afecta al derecho de trato no discriminatorio de la industria del tabaco por las Partes y, por lo tanto, permite la cooperación necesaria con la industria del tabaco en lo que atañe al control del tabaco."
Traducción facilitada por la OMPI, © 2012