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World's First Anti-Smoking Treaty Becomes Law 
Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 11:23 AM

The world's first tobacco control treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), becomes binding international law on Sunday, 27 February 2005.
The WHO FCTC aims to curb what has become the second biggest killer in the world.

The convention provisions set international standards on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labelling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke.

It also recommended "regular increases in taxes on tobacco products to ensure that the price of all these products increases by at least 5 per cent over inflation every year".

Singapore signed the Convention on 29 December 2003 and ratified it on 14 May 2004 .

The WHO FCTC was unanimously adopted by the fifty-sixth World Health Assembly in May 2003, following almost three years of negotiations. During the year that followed, while it was open for signature, 167 countries and the European Community signed, and 23 countries became contracting parties.

On 30 November 2004, the 40th country ratified the convention, triggering a 90-day countdown for its wntry into force. As of 23 February 2005, a total of 57 countries had ratified the convention.