On its third reading, after discussions about the amendments of some vague sections in the Bill, Senator Hokkons Baules made a motion to defer action on Senate Bill No. 8-79, SD2 and wait until the tobacco convention is over.
Sen. Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., asked if it’s possible to withdraw amendments for now as there are works to be done on framework on tobacco convention. “If we pass this, basically what we do later on will be worthless since we have empowered state legislatures to create laws.”
Discussion regarding the framework is still pending.
Palau is one of more than 160 World Health Organization (WHO) Member States who adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It is one of the of the most rapidly embraced UN conventions.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is one of the biggest international tools to prevent the single biggest preventable cause of death, smoking. Currently, there are more than 1.3 billion smokers around the world, and half of them are “expected to die prematurely of a tobacco-related disease.”
