History of Interference during COP and MOP

COP 5, 12-17 November 2012

INTERPOL, the International Criminal Police Organization, applied for observer status at COP 5. INTERPOL had accepted a donation from Philip Morris International (PMI), to promote the industry’s favoured Track and Trace system Codentify, which was being discussed at the Conference of the Parties as part of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. Given INTERPOL’s links with the tobacco industry, the COP Bureau began an investigation into the application, resulting in a rejection. Leaked Philip Morris documents note how this rejection was unanimous among the Parties to the Convention. For more details, see INTERPOL.

COP 6, 13-18 October 2014

The Italian government nominated Carlo Sacchetto as part of the official Italian delegation to COP 6. Sacchetto had a history of representing pro-tobacco interests, while the Italian government had also sent industry-friendly delegates to COP 5.¹²

COP 7, 7-12 November 2016

A Reuters exposé from 2017 outlined detailed allegations that PMI attempted to infiltrate COP, despite knowing it was officially barred from participating.³

In June 2016 the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) was created, with an explicit objective to influence COP 7. Its website stated that: “The immediate objective for INNCO was to gain civil society consumer organisation stakeholder status and have a voice at the WHO FCTC COP7 conference in New Delhi”.⁴ INNCO was denied observer status at COP 8 (see below). It received funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World for activities around COP 9. For more details, see the page on INNCO.

COP 8, 1-6 October 2018

In 2018, INNCO applied to attend COP 8 as an observer, but its application was again rejected by the FCTC secretariat. Instead INNCO participated in a side event,⁵ and became active in lobbying COP 8 via Twitter. Research from the Tobacco Control Research Group found that INNCO, its members, affiliates and associates made up a significant proportion of the total Twitter activity relating to newer nicotine and tobacco products and harm reduction. Specifically, it found that over half of those identified who were advocating for newer products were affiliated in some way with INNCO, either directly or with an INNCO member organisation, and that they were responsible for 63% of the tweets from that group.⁶

In September 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vaping (E-Cigarettes) held a meeting to discuss “the UK’s preparations for COP8”.⁷ The APPG received funding from the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), which had tobacco industry members until September 2023, including board members who held senior positions at tobacco companies. Later that month, UKVIA released a statement urging the WHO to reverse vaping bans, and regulate e-cigarettes separately from “traditional combustible tobacco products”.⁸ For more details, see All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vaping (E-Cigarettes).

COP 9, 8-13 November 2021

See: COP 9 & MOP 2: Interference by the Tobacco Industry and its Allies

COP 10, February 5-10, 2024

See: Interference around COP 10 & MOP 3

COP 11, November 17-22, 2025

See: Interference around COP 11 & MOP 4