SMOKE FREE PARTNERSHIP UPDATES

Brussels - This edition of the SFP news update highlights key policy updates on tobacco taxation, illicit trade and tobacco control research, and gives the SFP Coalition partners a brief report from COP7 in India.

Brussels – The Smoke Free Partnership notes with alarm that despite a clear, strong-worded ruling of maladministration issued today by the European Ombudsman, the European Commission’s meetings with the tobacco industry at the highest level continue uninterrupted.

Stockholm - SFP's Coalition partner Tobaksfakta have received funds from the Public Health Agency for a project that will help to increase public knowledge and awareness of important news in the Tobacco Act.

London - The Appeal Court has today handed down a ruling rejecting the tobacco industry’s appeal against the law requiring standardised packaging of cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco.[1] 

Brussels – Over 100 countries have adopted pictorial health warnings, and almost 20 have adopted or are considering the introduction of plain standardised packaging, shows a new international status report.

Kyiv - SFP's Coalition partner, Advocacy Center LIFE, conducted a press conference to expose tobacco industry’s marketing tactics targeting children.

Ljubljana, October 2016- View the video with SFP's contribution to press conference organised by the SFP Coalition partner Slovenian Coalition for Public Health, Environment and Tobacco Control.

Brussels – The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) applauds the decision of the Commission to reject renewal or extension of the PMI Agreement with the EU, beyond its current date of expiry- 9th July 2016. The decision sets a milestone in the fight against illicit tobacco trade by allowing the allocation of resources and efforts for implementing more adequate measures, such as the global WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

Strasbourg - The EU will soon become the 18th jurisdiction to ratify the WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (Illicit Trade Protocol). The Smoke Free Partnership welcomes the European Parliament`s plenary vote for the ratification of the Protocol by the EU and calls on the EU Member States to follow its lead.

Brussels - During a reception at the European Parliament to celebrate World No Tobacco Day 2016, organised by the Smokefree Partnership and 12 other health and tobacco control organisations, participants celebrated the entry into force of the Tobacco Products Directive and the implementation of plain packaging in the UK and France, with Ireland soon to follow, a measure made possible under the 2014 TPD.

The 2016 World No Tobacco Day focused on plain packaging falls just a few days after the entry into force of the Tobacco Products Directive, which has greatly contributed to the implementation of plain packaging in EU Member States. This reception celebrated the Directive and the possibilities it has created for Member States to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products.

Brussels - The Smoke Free Partnership welcomes the entry into force of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) that sets the EU on a course towards more effective prevention of smoking, especially among children and young people.

Brussels - The Smoke Free Partnership calls on EU Member States to implement the provisions of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

Brussels - Yesterday the European Parliament adopted a Resolution stating, in no uncertain terms, that the European Commission should not renew, extend or renegotiate the Agreement with Phillips Morris International (PMI) beyond its current date of expiry in July 2016.

Brussels - Tobacco industry interference remains the single largest obstacle to effective policies against tobacco use across Europe. Regretfully this interference is largely unrecognised and unchallenged by policymakers.

Brussels - SFP and health organisations across the EU have expressed alarm at the possibility that the European Commission will try to extend its legal agreement on tobacco smuggling with the major tobacco multinational Philip Morris International

Brussels – The Smoke Free Partnership is dismayed by the European Commission’s continued failure to implement more transparency in its dealings with the tobacco industry.

Brussels - SFP is delighted to see that the Advocate General’s Opinions uphold measures that intended to protect the health of hundreds of millions of EU citizens.

London - The tobacco industry’s challenge to the UK’s standardised tobacco packaging regulations is drawing to a close today and a ruling is expected to be made by the judge, the Hon. Mr Justice Green, in the New Year.

Latest developments regarding Article 8 of the FCTC on smoke free policies in Romania and in the Czech Republic.

Brussels - SFP welcomes EU Ombudsman’s decision that the Commission’s secrecy about its tobacco industry meetings breaches its obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Dublin, July 2015- SFP's temporary partner, the Irish Cancer Society published ‘TTIP, ISDS and the Implications for Irish Public Health Policy’ – a major report into how an investor-State dispute mechanism could potentially affect the ability of the Oireachtas to pass laws that will reduce the cancer rate and save lives.

London - Governments worldwide should consider using tobacco taxation as a tool to finance sustainable development and save lives, says the declaration of a major UN conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Brussels - Luk Joossens, Tobacco Control Expert at the Association of European Cancer Leagues and the Foundation Against Cancer Belgium, is awared special recognition by the world health organization.