SMOKE FREE PARTNERSHIP UPDATES

On this year's International Women's Day, we want to reflect on the way women are differently impacted and often discriminated against by the tobacco industry. 

COP10 and MOP3 brought together delegations from around the world and though we saw some big wins for tobacco control, there remain major gaps that need to be addressed. Throughout the last two weeks, civil society worked hard to move the agenda forward and work collaboratively with Parties to advance tobacco control.

In its 10^th session, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)  Conference of the Parties (COP) has, for the first time, the opportunity to support the development of options for using liability to protect the environment, as suggested by the Draft Decision on WHO FCTC Article 19 initially proposed by Oman, Iran, and Pakistan under agenda item 6.5. 

The Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - the governing body of the global tobacco control treaty – is resuming from 5 to 10 February 2024 in Panama. The COP10 is the most important global tobacco control governing body meeting. 

By failing to publish its proposal on smoke-free environments, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes/vapes enjoy the same liberties that cigarettes had 30 years ago.

The Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) released the 2023 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index (Index) and the European region’s results are worrisome. 

Following the European Commission’s indefinite delay of the revision of the EU Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD), a new piece of research unveils the cost of delay across the EU. In addition to jeopardising the Europe Beating Cancer Plan’s goal of a Tobacco-Free Generation, the estimated costs of continued inaction are sobering. 

The cost of a pack of Marlboro in 2022 varies in the 27 EU countries from €2,91 in Bulgaria to €15,40 in Ireland, data collected and analysed by the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) shows.

On 14 August 2023, the Smoke Free Partnership made its official submission to the United Nations Environment Programme Plastics Secretariat ahead of the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

SFP's Senior Advisor Luk Joosens assesses the implementation of the tracking and tracing system in countries party to the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

SFP Policy Actions & Communications

SFP Input into Consultations:

- SFP made its submission to the European Commission’s public consultation on the evaluation of the General Framework for Tobacco Control (TPD and TAD). Many thanks to coalition partners for their support and for sending in their contributions to the submission process.

ABOUT THE SMOKE FREE PARTNERSHIP (SFP):

SFP is a coalition of NGOs working exclusively on EU policy analysis and advocacy linked to the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Our vision is a world free from the death and suffering caused by tobacco consumption.

To this end, SFP works with decision makers to ensure that tobacco control receives adequate political attention at EU level and to promote tobacco control information and policy research at EU and national level, in collaboration with other EU health organizations and tobacco control networks. It also aims to ensure FCTC implementation globally, and is working to release EU funding for tobacco control to counter poverty in developing countries.

The  Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) is participating in the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) to advocate for a ban on cigarette filters.

Summary: In April 2023, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released its options paper that summarizes a set of objectives, substantive provisions, including core obligations, control measures, voluntary approaches, implementation measures, and means of implementation for the upcoming plastics treaty talks.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP)  will be participating in the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) to advocate for a ban on cigarette filters.

SFP is in Paris from 29 May to 2 June, to join forces with the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA) and push for key messages to ensure that the currently negotiated UN plastic treaty talks align with EU and global legal tobacco control commitments.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP)  is participating in the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) to advocate for a ban on cigarette filters.

Summary: Measures to address plastics, especially single-use plastics, should align with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Cigarette filters are plastic fibres that have been linked to a more aggressive form of cancer. The filter is a design feature that, if removed, could reduce consumer appeal.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) will be participating in the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) to advocate for a ban on cigarette filters.

Summary: UNEA Resolution 5/14 calls for the development of a global plastics treaty. Formal negotiations start at the end of November 2022. The treaty is expected to address the issue of Single Use Plastics (SUPs), under which cigarette filters have been classified.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) is participating in the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) to advocate for a ban on cigarette filters.

Summary: The tobacco industry is facing a potential ban on plastic filters. Filters are toxic waste, as they release harmful chemicals, including heavy metals and radioactive substances, as they decompose. There is no viable treatment or recycling solution for these products. Such a ban poses a threat to the industry's profitability, and as a result, manufacturers are seeking to circumvent such a ban by creating “biodegradable filters.”

In resonance with WHO’s World No Tobacco Day 2023 theme of “We need food, not tobacco”, SFP calls for transitioning away from tobacco farming.

Key facts:

1. EU continues to subsidise tobacco farming through its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to a tune of between €100 and €270 million over 5 years

2. Migrants including minors in Italy were forced to work 12-hour days without contracts or protective equipment, being paid as little as €3 an hour.

3. Tobacco cultivation contaminates food crops with toxic nicotine, posing a public health threat.

The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP), a coalition of more than 50 NGOs working in tobacco control, expresses concern over the event “Recipe for a Smoke-Free Europe: Learnings from the Swedish Experience” that will be hosted in the European Parliament on 31 May, which is the World No Tobacco Day. The focus of the event is the use of alternative nicotine products in Sweden.

SFP urges the European Parliament to not host any events that could be linked to an industry that is responsible for 700,000 deaths within the EU annually.

This application summary details the activities planned by the SFP Coalition for 2023 and how SFP’s objectives contribute directly to the first goal of the EU4Health Programme: “To improve and foster health in the Union: disease prevention & health promotion and international health initiatives & cooperation”. One of the Commissions 2023 work programme objectives 3.5 Promoting our European Way of Life (prevention package) highlights that “The Commission will continue the implementation of the ambitious Beating Cancer Plan, one of the pillars of a strong European Health Union”.

On April 18, 2023, the EU Ombudsman released a preliminary opinion following its own-initiative inquiry on the transparency of meetings between the European Commission with tobacco interest representatives which originated in 2020 and 2021.

SFP Policy Actions & Communications

Tobacco Taxation and Products Regulation:

- The Tobacco Tax Directive which was planned for December 7, 2022 according to the agenda of Commissioners, has been postponed. SFP held meetings with Commission representatives: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union and with the Cabinet of Commissioner Gentiloni. 

- A public consultation on the evaluation of the General Framework for Tobacco Control (TPD and TAD) was launched by DG SANTE. The deadline for submission is May 16, 2023. SFP will share a draft with you by the end of April.

- On March 1, 2023 the Commission adopted an IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU), amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/574 on technical standards for the establishment and operation of a traceability system for tobacco products.