The targeted changes to international health regulations – your (2005), which were accepted by the World Health Meeting on June 1, 2024, are to be treated as a state contract and therefore require acceptance by the Austrian Parliament. In order to act in accordance with international law and constitution, on July 17th. through the constant representation of Austria at the United Nations in Geneva, a legal objection in relation to the targeted changes brought. As long as this objection remains, Austria is not bound to the targeted changes to international health regulations.
The changes have been a reaction to the experiences of the past years and aim to strengthen the global standby and reaction capacities in emergencies in the field of public health. Austria supports the process in the sense of global solidarity and focus on the causes of pandemic. “Austria benefits if the abilities of the WHO member states are strengthened to recognize future outbursts and pandemics, to react quickly, and to coordinate the reaction between states. Since pandemics do not know any national borders, it is necessary to protect all international health systems for the protection of the population,” said the Ministry of Health.
The appeal is withdrawn as soon as the proposed parliamentary acceptance procedure has been completed. This procedure does not constitute rejection of the changes, but only serves to ensure a constitutional procedure – which was also clearly pointed out to the WHO: “The rejection is temporarily and is withdrawn as soon as the Austrian parliament has approved the changes to international health regulations.”
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