The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing two days of public hearings on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 12 and 13 October in Geneva, Switzerland. The hearings come just two days before the start of formal negotiations on the FCTC, the parameters of which were set forth in Resolutions WHA52.18 and WHA53.16 which were adopted by consensus by the World Health Assembly in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

Registration is now open to attend these hearings, either as a journalist or as a participant.

WHERE: The two-day hearings, which will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., will be held at Geneva's International Conference Centre (CICG).

WHEN: 12-13 October 2000

HOW TO REGISTER AS A JOURNALIST: Send proof of journalist’s credentials to:

Office of the Spokesperson (SPO)
World Health Organization
20 Avenue Appia
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
e-mail: hartlg@who.int

HOW TO PARTICIPATE AS AN INTERESTED PARTY:

Pre-Hearing Submissions

WHO will receive comments on the FCTC from all interested institutions in any of the six official United Nations languages, i.e., Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The deadline for receiving submissions is the close of business (Geneva time) on 31 August 2000. Submissions should be sent to fctchearings@who.int or posted to TFI, WHO, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.

Submissions must not exceed 5 pages (standard size paper and type), including attachments. Private sector and non-governmental organizations and institutions may submit these. Organizations and institutions will be limited to one submission. Each submission must clearly identify:

• The organisational or institutional submitter
• The scope of activities or mandate of the organization
• The organization’s interest in the FCTC process
• Source of funding of the commenting/submitting organization.

WHO must receive all submissions by the deadline, which will not be extended under any circumstances.

Testifying at the Hearings

A panel comprising three members of TFI’s Policy and Strategy Advisory Committee (PSAC) will moderate the proceedings. PSAC was established by the Director-General of WHO to provide advice; its members are international tobacco control experts. Opportunities to speak are limited to institutions or organizations that have made written submissions. Each speaker may speak for up to a maximum of five minutes.

Speakers may:

• Provide a synopsis of their written testimony
• Add to their written testimony
• Comment on other people’s testimony

For planning and organization purposes, please state clearly, at the time of the original submission, if you wish to testify in person in the hearings in Geneva. Speakers should hand a hard copy of their statement to the Secretariat of the Hearings before they speak to facilitate interpretation into other languages and for future reference.

For those not able to attend in person, testimony may be videotaped and, time permitting, these videos will be shown during the Hearings. If possible, videos should, be submitted in PAL format and a transcript should be provided.

Subsequent Submissions by All Previous Submitters

All submitters (i.e. all those organizations and institutions that have made submissions by the close of business [Geneva time] 31 August 2000) may file submissions in reply to presentations after the hearings. The submissions must reach WHO by the close of business (Geneva time) 27 October 2000, and must not exceed 3 pages.

For further information from WHO, journalists can contact Mr Gregory Hartl WHO Spokesperson, WHO, Geneva, tel (+41 22) 791 4458 fax (+41 22) 791 4858. E-mail: hartlg@who.int.