In March 2018, SFP submitted a response to the public consultation on the future EU research priorities, including a detailed position paper on tobacco control research.

The position paper outlines three key messages, namely:

• Effective, rapidly implemented policies have a great potential to reduce the burden and the number of deaths caused by tobacco.
• While some excellent tobacco research exists, current tobacco research is unevenly distributed across the EU and rarely evaluates policy interventions.
• EU action is needed on FCTC Article 20 to improve research, surveillance, collaboration, and information exchange on tobacco.

In light of the key messages above, SFP highlighted two main policy asks:

• Enforce FCTC Article 20 by dedicating a budget line to tobacco research and setting up a Centre of Excellence to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration and help fill the gaps in tobacco research
• Establish a designated FCTC Article 20 tobacco research committee based on the provisions of the Horizon 2020 Specific Programme to provide an adequate infrastructure to foster and coordinate tobacco control research across the EU.