PAHO Meeting on Alcohol Marketing Regulation. Final Report.

Abstract

Scope and Purpose An exploratory international meeting on regulation of marketing* of alcohol products** was held at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) headquarters in Washington, D.C., USA, 12–13 January 2015. The objectives of the meeting were to summarize the research on the effects of alcohol marketing on young people; review existing statutory and self-regulatory codes on marketing and examine their effectiveness; consider the implications of international trade agreements and other treaties for developing a global alcohol marketing code; and describe the experience of countries where alcohol marketing legislation has been recently enacted or proposed. Participants, including experts on tobacco control, food and nonalcoholic beverages, trade agreements, and health policy, as well as staff from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), country offices, and World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, formulated key concepts on the way forward, based on the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol passed by the World Health Assembly in May 2010 (Resolution WHA63.13) and the Regional Plan of Action to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol passed by PAHO’s 51st Directing Council in September 2011 (Resolution CD51.R14).