The International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) is organizing the 12th Asia Pacific Regional Forum in New Delhi, India from 5-7 May.

ITIC has a number of tobacco companies as part of its board of directors and has produced many publications on several areas related to taxes and prices, investment and illicit trade in tobacco products.

The event website originally listed the Indian Minister of Finance (State) as the confirmed Chief Guest of its Opening ceremony, along with officials from his ministry, former Indian Minister of Finance and state government officials.

The Delhi State Government launched an awareness initiative to inform about the health consequences of tobacco use, in particular chewing tobacco, on 30 April 2015.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has introduced a bill on the ratification of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to the Assemblée Nationale after its approval by the Government. Along with it, an impact study will be presented to the Members of Parliament describing the current situation and expected outcomes of the new legislation.

The amendment to the 21-year-old Advertisement Law was approved today by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress at its bimonthly session. The new law will take effect on 1 September 2015.

Tobacco advertisements will be forbidden on mass media and in public places, banning any kinds of advertisement targeting minors. Advertisements for other products or services should not include the brand, trademark, packaging, design and similar contents of tobacco products, according to the new law.

From 22-24 April 2015, the WHO FCTC Convention Secretariat concluded a multisectoral workshop in Panama to promote ratification of and accession to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. Representatives of the Governments of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama came together to discuss next steps on the way to bringing the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products into force. The Government of Panama kindly funded the meeting.

The Cambodian National Assembly passed the country's first ever law on tobacco control on 8 April 2015. The law was approved unanimously by all political parties. Later in the month, on 30 April 2015, the Plenary Session of the Senate also ratified the Law. 

Burkina Faso's Ministers of Health and Trade signed a joint decree on April 7, 2015, requiring pictorial warnings required on tobacco packs.

France's Assembly voted last week to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. From May 2016 all cigarette packs will have the same shape, same size, same color and the same typography, without any logo. The brand name, however, will continue to appear on packages. "We know that young people and women are paying attention to packaging," explained the Health Minister Marisol Touraine. "Tobacco claims 73,000 lives per year in France," she added.

With the entry into force of the 2014 Commencement of the Tobacco Products Control Act, all packaging of tobacco products in Namibia is required to bear both pictorial warnings and textual messages from 1 of April 2015 on. The warnings have to cover at least 60% of the principal display areas of packages.

Representatives of different government sectors from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates came together at the second subregional workshop to promote entry into force of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products from 23-24 March 2015 in Kuwait City.

The workshop was kindly hosted by the Government of Kuwait and co-organized by the Convention Secretariat and the Ministry of Health of Kuwait.