The Tobacco Control Unit participated in the Workshop and Annual Meeting of the Smoke Free Partnership
In 2022, the Tobacco Control Unit became an advocacy partner of the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) Coalition, a specialised network comprising of independent EU and national organisations with technical expertise in tobacco control policy.
On November 7th, the Tobacco Control Unit participated in the Workshop on Tobacco Taxation organised by the SFP. Increasing tobacco taxes is one of the most impactful legislative tools for reducing tobacco consumption. Therefore, the revision of national policies in this area as well as the revision of the EU Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD) would allow us to achieve the goal of creating a Tobacco-Free Generation. Tobacco taxes in Spain have not been revised since 2016 and it is an urgent issue for a national tobacco control strategy.
On November 8th, the SFP held an Annual Coalition Meeting where 2023 key achievements at the national level were discussed, along with COP/MOP updates. Our Unit representative, Olena Tigova, participated in a discussion on Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) measures that should be prioritised highlighting the need for a better definition of tobacco products particularly for confusing terms for novel products. Additionally, the discussion on TPD emphasised the introduction of plain packaging and the revision of Article 24 which currently prohibits member states from restricting the placing on the market of tobacco or related products which comply with the Directive. The meeting was concluded with the internal presentation of the 2022 European Tobacco Industry Interference Index which Spain also included in the three latest editions showing important work to be done in our country to eliminate industry interference in the tobacco sphere.
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