Smoke Free Partnership Response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the smoke-free environments
Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Brussels, 15 December 2022: The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) welcomes the Commission’s initiative to revise the 2009 Recommendation on smoke-free environments. SFP agrees that such a revision is much needed, given the latest market developments, the latest findings of studies regarding the impact of tobacco smoke and emerging products’ aerosols on health and the environment, the specific vulnerability of children to second-hand and third-hand tobacco smoke, and the wide divergence of smoke-free laws across Member States.
Such a revision is of paramount importance for correctly implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which the EU and all its Member States are Parties, and notably its Article 8, on the protection from exposure to tobacco smoke. Studies have confirmed that comprehensive smoke-free laws reduce the risk of smoking initiation and stimulate quitting attempts. The revision of the 2009 Recommendation on smoke-free environments is key if the EU is to denormalize smoking to achieve the target set in the EU Cancer Plan to reduce smoking prevalence across the EU to 5% in 2040.
Read the full response below.
- Download SFP Position paper Smoke-free environments (208 downloads)