It is day 4 of COP. After 104 country delegate statements, the policy discussions are underway, and the first leak has emerged. The EU Commission and Denmark are pushing for bans on vaping and pouches, despite the EU’s joint position rejecting such measures. This undermines the democratic process, ignores evidence and the principles of tobacco harm reduction. It aligns Denmark and the Commission with countries like Brazil, which submitted proposals to the WHO calling for a complete rejection of harm reduction. 

But there is good news. We see the first cracks in the ideological COP11 wall. Countries started to push back and demand transparency, inclusion in decision-making processes, and measures based on science and the principles of harm reduction. 

New Zealand, Albania, Gambia, Mozambique, Serbia, North Macedonia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and many more countries stood up and rejected the WHO’s narrative. The final language from COP11 appears to have been softened significantly. Many Parties expressed a clear preference for voluntary guidance, flexible implementation, and local decision-making over top-down mandates.

Meanwhile, civil society and consumers remained excluded from negotiations. Closed-door sessions and the public shaming of New Zealand, a country praised globally for its vaping-led success in reducing smoking, which was awarded the ‘dirty ashtray’ from the prohibitionist FCTC secretariat, revealed the ongoing intolerance for harm reduction within the WHO process.

WVA will continue to monitor the outcomes of COP11 and advocate for consumer inclusion, transparency, and risk-based regulation. The momentum is real, the tide is turning, but now is the time to accelerate it, not retreat.

Here you can find more background information.