A new version of the International Health Regulations is under development. Misinformation disseminated in the media

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- A new version of the International Health Regulations is under development at WHO.

- As a result, there is misinformation regarding the expiry of the deadline for submitting objections to the version of the International Health Regulations currently under development.

- Some commentators indicate that the new version of the Regulations would come into force as early as 1 December.

- In fact, this deadline refers to a minor amendment to the International Health Regulations, adopted in May 2022, and which does not significantly affect the regulation as a whole.

The International Health Regulations (IHR) are a set of guidelines, rights and obligations imposed on WHO member states as well as the World Health Organisation itself. Their primary purpose is to prevent and counter the spread of communicable diseases that pose an international threat and to jointly strengthen the broader international health system. They regulate, among other things, the transmission and exchange of information on health threats between Member States and rules to counter the spread of communicable diseases, which refers in particular to the detection, assessment, notification and response to such threats in cooperation with the WHO. An important task of the International Health Regulations is also the protection of international trade and transport, as the objectives of this regulation should be pursued in a way that does not cause undue interference and disruption in these two economically vital areas. In terms of legal nature, the International Health Regulations are a WHO regulation, adopted on the basis of Article 21 of the World Health Organisation Constitution.

The current version of the International Health Regulations, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2005, has from the outset been met with far-reaching criticism, which referred, among other things, to its excessive interference in the sovereignty of states or its failure to adapt to the realities and capabilities of individual countries. A particular wave of criticism fell on the regulation in question after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which referred in particular to the assessment of the actual possibility of preventing the spread and combating infectious diseases of global reach in its current form. The economic consequences of the restrictions introduced at the time were also negatively assessed, especially in terms of hindering international trade and transport.

Therefore, a process was initiated in 2022, the final outcome of which is expected to be the adoption of a new version of the International Health Regulations. The result so far of the work of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations, the special body in charge of developing the new version of the IHL, was a Report, published in February this year, and containing the amendments submitted. Recently, there has been false information in the media space that the deadline for countries to reject the new version of the International Health Regulations currently under development would be 1 December this year.

In fact, at the 76th session of the World Health Assembly in May 2022, amendments to Article 55, Article 59, Article 61, Article 62 and Article 63 of the ICCPR were adopted through resolution WHA75.12, and it is for States to object to their adoption by 1 December.

Of the amendments adopted at that time, the most significant is the addition of paragraph 1bis to Article 59, which modifies the time limit for States to make reservations or reject future amendments to IHR, reducing it to 10 months (it is currently 18 months). In addition, the wording of Article 59(1) of the IHR has been slightly amended, thus establishing two separate modes for rejection or reservations:

1. a procedure relating to the adoption of new regulations (new IHR), where the time limit in question is still 18 months (Article 59(1) IHR),
2. and a new procedure for the rejection of amendments to IHR already in force (amendments to IHR), where the deadline in question is 10 months (Article 59(1bis) of IHR).

On the other hand, Article 59(2) IHR shortens the time for future amendments and amendments to IHR to enter into force - from 24 to 12 months.

The rest of the adopted amendments, concerning Articles 55, 61, 62 and 63 of the IHR, are primarily technical in nature, being in fact the completion of the amendment to Article 59 of the IHR. Thus, in Articles 55(3) and 61 of the IHR, insignificant changes have been made relating to the modification of the aforementioned deadlines. Article 62(4)(c), on the other hand, requires the WHO Director-General to request notification from States Parties in the event that they object to amendments to the IHR. Article 63(1), on the other hand, deals with the case where a State, after initially making reservations, finally decides to withdraw them. The wording added in 2022 as part of the amendment, provides that, in such a case, IHR may not enter into force, with respect to that State, earlier than 24 months after the submission of reservations under Article 59(1) and not earlier than 12 months, in the case of reservations under Article 59(1 bis), counted from the date of notification by the WHO Director-General.

Significantly, the amendments to the IHR provisions in question (from 2022) will enter into force on the basis of the pre-amendment rules, i.e. after 24 months. Only after the expiry of this period will the subsequent amendments enter into force under the new regime, i.e. after 12 months.

Thus, States Parties intending to reject or object to any of the amendments may notify the Director General within 18 months of the date of circulation of the notice of amendments, i.e. by 1 December 2023. Importantly, the final decision on Poland's position on the amendments to the International Health Regulations is made by the Minister of Health.

- "Changes to the International Health Regulations and other WHO regulations raise serious concerns. But the changes affected by the deadline of 1 December 2023 are marginal changes of a technical nature. Realistically dangerous amendments are only on the way"- emphasises Patryk Ignaszczak of the Ordo Iuris Centre for International Law.