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About the Summer Program

As global efforts to address non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are accelerating, complexity is increasing and the importance of law is becoming more apparent. Understanding the powers, duties and constraints created by law is now essential not only for lawyers, but also for officials and advocates working on NCDs.

The O’Neill Institute Summer Program on NCDs and the Law will take a global approach to the issues, while also drawing upon case studies from domestic law. Participants will enhance their understanding of the global burden of NCDs, contemporary developments at the international level, international instruments governing NCDs, best practice regulation, the intersection of human rights and NCDs and the intersection of trade, investment and NCDs.

About the O’Neill Institute

The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University was established in 2007 to respond to the need for innovative solutions to the most pressing national and international health concerns. Housed at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C., the O’Neill Institute reflects the importance of public and private law in health policy analysis. The O’Neill Institute is comprised of a diverse network of faculty, fellows, staff, affiliates, and alumni. Our team includes renowned scholars, policymakers, and practitioners with a diversity of talents, experience, and expertise in the fields of law and health. The O’Neill Institute draws upon the University’s considerable intellectual resources, including the School of Nursing and Health Studies, School of Medicine, the Public Policy Institute, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Courses

Day 1 - Introduction to NCDs

Session 1 – Welcome and Introductions

Welcome to the O’Neill Institute
Introduction of participants
Opening lecture

Speakers: Lawrence Gostin (O’Neill Institute), “The Silent Pandemic of NCDs: Framing the National and Global Response”; Tanya Baytor, (O’Neill Institute) “Welcome”

Session 2 – Introduction to Global Health Law
The lecture will provide an introduction to the intersection of international law and health, addressing the:

Sources and subjects of international law
Mandate of the World Health Organization (WHO)
Law-making powers set out in the Constitution of the WHO
Decision-making structures within the WHO
Legal culture within the WHO
Health-related law-making in other international forums

Speaker: Allyn Taylor (O’Neill Institute)

Session 3 – The State of Play
This panel will provide an overview of NCDs, including the:

Global burden of NCDs and risk factors
Programmatic initiatives to address NCDs, such as the global monitoring framework and the Global Action Plan
Overview of instruments relevant to NCDs

Moderator: Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Speakers: Godfrey Xuereb (WHO) and Katherine DeLand (WHO)

Session 4 – Justifying Government Intervention: Normative Theories of Regulation
In what circumstances is it appropriate for government to intervene? This question underpins the use of law to address NCDs as well as restraints on the power of government. This lecture and interactive discussion forum will examine normative theories of regulation, including those relating to correction of market failures, paternalism, justice and human rights. The session will also explore the implications of recent behavioral research for normative theories of regulation.

Speakers: Lawrence Gostin (O’Neill Institute); Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute) and Alberto Alemanno (HEC Paris)

Day 2 - Comparative Regulatory Approaches

Day 2 will explore a number of regulatory approaches used to address NCDs across the risk factors of tobacco, alcohol and diet.

Session 1 – Packaging and Labeling Measures
This session will examine:

Best practice in packaging and labeling measures
A comparative examination of Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its implementation guidelines, Codex Alimentarius Commission Guidelines on Nutrition Labeling, Guidelines for Use of Nutrition and Health Claims and the General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods and the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol
An interactive discussion on the merits of graphic warnings on alcoholic beverages

Speaker: David Hammond (University of Waterloo) (via video-link); Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 2 – Restrictions on Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship
This session will examine:

Best practice restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship
A comparative examination of Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its implementation guidelines, the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol, WHO Recommendations on the Marketing of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children

Speakers: Katherine DeLand (WHO)

Lunchtime Talk - A View from Europe

Speaker: Alberto Alemanno (HEC Paris)

Session 3 – Tax and Price Measures
This panel will examine:

Best practices in tobacco taxation
A discussion of Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, and the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol
Constraints on the use of subsidies and discriminatory taxes under the law of the World Trade Organization

Speakers: Hana Ross (American Cancer Society), Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 4 – Product Regulation
This session will examine:

Product reformulation in the food and beverage industries
Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and partial guidelines for their implementation
An interactive discussion on the regulation of emerging tobacco and nicotine products

Speakers: Godfrey Xuereb (WHO); Katherine DeLand (WHO)

Day 3 - Human Rights and NCDs

Day 3 will examine the relevance of human rights law to NCDs. Economic, social and cultural rights provide an important justification for government intervention to address NCDs. However, civil and political rights associated with individual liberty may restrain government intervention.

Session 1 – Using the Human Rights Framework to Address NCDs
The lecture will provide an introduction to:

Foundations of human rights principles and obligations for governments
Human rights mechanisms to justify and guide government intervention
Non-state actors and whether they bear any human rights obligations

Speakers: Oscar Cabrera (O’Neill Institute); Paula Avila Guillen (O’Neill Institute); Ana Ayala (O’Neill Institute)

Session 2 – The Challenges of Measuring Human Rights
The lecture will analyze:

What constitutes a human rights violation in the context of NCDs
How human rights violations can be measured
Benefits and challenges to measuring human rights

Speaker: John Kraemer (Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies)

Session 3 – Childhood Obesity through a Human Rights Lens
This session will engage participants in an interactive exercise that explores:

Industry’s impact on children’s rights within the context of childhood obesity
Human rights-based legal strategies to justify government intervention in fighting childhood obesity
Human rights-based legal strategies to protect industry’s competing interests

Speakers: Oscar Cabrera (O’Neill Institute); Paula Avila Guillen (O’Neill Institute); Ana Ayala (O’Neill Institute)

Session 4 - Access to Pain Medication
This panel will examine:

Introduction to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its implications for access to pain medication
Recent developments at the international level concerning access to pain medication

Moderator: Alejandro Madrazo (CIDE) (to be confirmed)

Speakers: Allyn Taylor (O’Neill Institute); Jonathan Liberman (McCabe Centre on Law and Cancer)(via video-link)

Day 4 - Trade, Investment and NCDs

Day 4 will examine the restraints that international trade and investment agreements impose on domestic regulation in the context of NCDs. These restraints have been highlighted by recent disputes, such as legal challenges to plain packaging of tobacco products at the World Trade Organization and under a bilateral investment treaty.

Session 1 – Trade and NCDs: Basic Principles of Trade Policy and Law
This session will examine:

The impacts of trade and investment policies on exposure to risk factors for NCDs
The law and structure of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Principles of non-discrimination and necessity and how they have been invoked in disputes concerning restrictions on the sale of asbestos, measures to restrict the spread of dengue and alcohol tax measures

Speaker: Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 2 – Technical Regulations and Food Safety
This session will examine:

Application of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade by reference to the recent WTO dispute concerning the prohibition of clove flavored cigarettes and an ongoing dispute concerning plain packaging of tobacco products
Application of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures to food safety measures, including labeling measures and measures governing the content of foods and beverages

Speaker: Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 3 – Intellectual Property
This session will examine:

Rules governing protection of patent rights and their impact on access to medicines, drawing on examples relating to cancer drugs
Rules governing protection of trademark rights and their implications for packaging and labeling measures, such as plain packaging of tobacco products

Speakers: Vivek Divan (UNDP); Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 4 – International Investment Law
This session will examine:

The basic structure and purposes of investment contracts and international investment agreements (IIAs)
The ways in which investment contracts and IIAs are used to tie the hands of regulators, including in a health context
How IIAs govern health measures, including by reference to recent claims made by Philip Morris against Uruguay and Australia
An interactive discussion of the merits of Philip Morris claims concerning plain packaging of tobacco products

Speaker / Moderator: Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Day 5 - NCDs and the Law: Where to from Here?

The final day of the summer program will focus on the normative question of what role law should play in efforts to address NCDs.

Session 1 – International Relations and Global Action on NCDs
This session will examine the potential role of international law in future efforts to address NCDs, including:

An explanation of why states created the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the functions it serves
An interactive discussion of the merits of new international legal instruments

Speaker / Moderator: Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Session 2 – The Role of Self-Regulation and Public Private Partnerships
This panel will examine what role industry has in addressing NCDs, including:

The lessons learned through schemes of self-regulation in different jurisdictions
The merits of public-private-partnerships
An interactive discussion of the issues

Moderator: Oscar Cabrera (O’Neill Institute)

Speakers: Laurent Huber (Framework Convention Alliance); Lauren Dunning (RENEW Los Angeles County); Trevor Gunn (Medtronic)

Lunchtime Talk – The role of Physical Activity in Preventing NCDs

Speaker: Alan Morelli (OptimisCorp)

Session 3 – Open Forum for Unanswered Questions
This interactive session will provide a forum for:

Participants to ask any unanswered questions
Discussion of the issues directed by participants

Moderators: Lawrence Gostin (O’Neill Institute); Oscar Cabrera (O’Neill Institute); Benn McGrady (O’Neill Institute)

Faculty

The O’Neill Institute Summer Program will be co-directed by Professors Lawrence Gostin, Oscar Cabrera and Benn McGrady. The faculty of the Summer Program consists of other leading global health experts from the O’Neill Institute, international institutions, academia and legal practice.

Co-Directors

Benn McGrady, Ph.D., directs the O’Neill Institute Initiative on Trade, Investment and Health and is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He is the author of Trade and Public Health: The WTO, Tobacco, Alcohol and Diet, (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and Confronting the Tobacco Epidemic in a New Era of Trade and Investment Liberalization, (World Health Organization, 2012). Benn has advised governments, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations on a range of international legal issues, particularly with respect to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Lawrence O. Gostin, an internationally acclaimed scholar, is University Professor, Georgetown University's highest academic rank conferred by the University President. Prof. Gostin directs the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and was the Founding O'Neill Chair in Global Health Law. He served as Associate Dean for Research at Georgetown Law from 2004 to 2008. He is Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, and Visiting Professor, Oxford University. Professor Gostin is also Director, of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights. He has published extensively on domestic legal and regulatory mechanisms to address NCDs, as well as model public health laws and governance issues in global health.

Oscar A. Cabrera, Abogado (JD equivalent), LL.M., is the Executive Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He is a foreign-trained attorney who earned his law degree in his home country of Venezuela, and his Master of Laws (LL.M.), with concentration in Health Law and Policy, at the University of Toronto. Oscar has worked on projects with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, among other organizations. He has studied and is interested in various health law related fields, such as health and human rights, global tobacco litigation and sexual and reproductive rights.

Guest Lecturers

Alberto Alemanno, Associate Professor, HEC Paris

Katherine DeLand, World Health Organization

Vivek Divan, United Nations Development Program

Lauren Dunning, Legal Policy Analyst, RENEW Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention

Trevor Gunn, Managing Director, International Relations, Medtronic Inc and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

David Hammond, Associate Professor, School of Public Health & Health Systems, University of Waterloo

Laurent Huber, Director, Framework Convention Alliance

Jonathan Liberman, Director, McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria and Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)

Alejandro Madrazo, CIDE

Alan Morelli, CEO, OptimisCorp

Hana Ross, Managing Director, International Tobacco Control Research, American Cancer Society

Allyn Taylor, Visiting Professor, O'Neill Institute / Georgetown University Law Center

Godfrey Xuereb, Team Leader, Population-based Prevention, Surveillance and Population-based Prevention Unit, Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases Department, World Health Organization

Program Details

How to Apply
Registration is now open. Please go to the Apply tab at this time to complete the online application.

Program Fees
Program fees for the O'Neill Supper Program are $2,000 USD and include costs associated with the course materials as well as daily lunch and a welcome reception. Participants are responsible for all other expenses (i.e. housing, meals, transportation, travel, etc.)

International Participants: Visa Information
Please note that it is the participant’s responsibility to apply for a visa if necessary.

Travel & Housing
Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel and housing. For more information regarding accommodation options, please visit
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/campus-life/housing-residence-life/index.cfm.

A short list of area hotels can be found below. Please contact them directly for rates and availability.

The Liaison Hotel: (202) 638-1616
Hyatt Regency Washington: (202) 737-1234
Hotel George: (202) 347-4200

Georgetown Law is located by Capitol Hill and is accessible on Red Line by both Union Station and Judiciary Square Metro stops. See www.wmata.com for more
information.

Certificate of Attendance
Participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance from Georgetown University Law Center upon completion of the Summer Program.

Cancellation Policy
Please note that registration cancellations and requests for refunds must be received in writing to oneillsummer@law.georgetown.edu by Friday, May 17, 2013. All refund requests will be charged a $100 administrative handling fee and will be processed after the conference. There will be no refunds after Friday, May 17th.

Contact
For more information, please email us at oneillsummer@law.georgetown.edu.

Summer Program Listserv

Subscribe to the O’Neill Summer Program Listserv

Subscribe to the O'Neill Summer Program Listserv by filling out the following form. You will be sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you.

Brochure

O'Neill Institute Summer Program on Global Health Law and Governance:
Non-Communicable Diseases and the Law

June 17-21, 2013

How to Apply

To apply for the O’Neill Institute Summer Program applicants should complete and submit the application form below by May 18, 2013. Selected candidates will receive a letter of acceptance with information on how to complete the registration process within 10 days of submitting application. Tuition is 2000 USD. This covers costs associated with the course and learning materials.

Notice: A high proficiency in English is required to attend these courses. All lectures and materials are in English.

Program Agenda

Please check back in the coming weeks as we continue to develop the program.

Program Presentations