The change of the performance of lawmaking functions by the World Health Organization

Despite of the fact that the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization entitles the Health Assembly to adopt treaties (Article 19) and to issue binding regulations (Article 21-22) for many years the Organization rather rarely used its lawmaking functions. In 2003 the WHO adopted its first ever treaty (The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) and two years later (2005) new International Health Regulations. This paper provides short overview of both documents with an aim to present and evaluate the change of the performance of lawmaking functions by the World Trade Organization. It's argued that despite of this process it is difficult to see any dramatic change in the foreseeable future. Soft law obligations will be still the main ones in the field of international health law and in the practice of the WHO.