A new editorial in Tobacco Control marks the 20th anniversary of the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS), a tool that has helped track and compare tobacco control policy implementation across Europe since 2006. Over two decades, the TCS has become a key resource for researchers, advocates and policymakers, highlighting policy gaps and encouraging countries to strengthen tobacco control measures.

This analysis examines the 2025 KPMG report on illicit tobacco trade in Europe, commissioned by Philip Morris International, and assesses its findings in light of independent public evidence. It unpacks the report's methodology and underlying assumptions, compares its conclusions with data from French and European public authorities, and sheds light on the structural drivers of parallel tobacco markets that the industry's narrative tends to overlook.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) acknowledges the outcome of today’s Strasbourg plenary vote, in which the European Parliament failed to adopt an opinion on the revision of the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD). While the vote leaves the Parliament without a formal position on the file, it carries significant political weight and keeps the debate on EU tobacco taxation open.

As the European Union advances the revision of its key tobacco control legislation, the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and the Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD), the tobacco industry is mounting an unprecedented campaign to influence the policymaking process through the European Commission's consultation process.

Public consultations and call for feedback are a legitimate and essential part of democratic decision-making, enabling citizens, experts and stakeholders to contribute to the development of public policies. However, the scale and nature of the industry's mobilisation efforts risk undermining the integrity of this process and distorting the evidence base on which public health policies should be built.                           
The ongoing consultation process has already received more than 50,000 feedback submissions and over 1,500 responses to the public consultation questionnaire and it is evident that a significant share of these contributions has been driven by coordinated tobacco industry campaigns.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) hosted today the webinar “Where Addiction Begins: How the Tobacco Industry Targets Youth Today”, bringing together experts and youth advocates to examine how the tobacco and nicotine industry continues to adapt its strategies to attract and retain young users across Europe and what should be done to stop it.

Today the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) launches the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) 2025, the most comprehensive country-by-country benchmark of tobacco control policy across 37 European nations.