What we do

Over the last decade, the nicotine market has dramatically changed. Historically, adult consumers enjoyed the social, physiological and ritual effects of nicotine through smoking cigarettes. Driven by adult consumers’ preferences, e-vapour products, heated tobacco products and tobacco-free nicotine pouches have now become for a growing share of consumers the preferred method of consuming nicotine. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years. Backed by years of investments in R&D, TE companies have developed a new range of alternative products to cigarettes, all with a potentially reduced-risk profile compared to smoking.

Tobacco Europe members stand committed to reducing the health impact of smoking in Europe.

Tobacco Europe companies, believing that only innovation can offer the best alternatives to smoking, continue to invest heavily in R&D, to be at the forefront of the development of such new products, to establish scientifically and in full transparency the risk profile of our potentially reduced risk products, to inform adult consumers and to provide them with the opportunity to choose tobacco and/or nicotine products which offer potentially reduced risk compared to continued smoking.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC, entry into force in 2005) is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of World Health Organisation (WHO) developing a regulatory strategy to reduce tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.

The Article 5.3 of the Treaty requires that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.

In 2008, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the FCTC collectively adopted guidelines setting out 4 non-binding principles and 8 non-binding recommendations to support the implementation of Article 5.3. Among these 4 non-binding principles, one principle specifically addresses relations with the Tobacco Industry representatives and clearly states interactions shall be “accountable and transparent”.

The two sub-recommendations made for this principle request the “necessary interactions” to be “conducted transparently” but do not mandate or suggest the exclusion of the industry at any stage. 
More importantly, Article 5.3 and its related principles seek to protect public health policies exclusively, and do not encompass other policies fields dealing with the Tobacco Industry. In this instance, no marginalization can be justified under Article 5.3 for dossiers unrelated to public health policies such as environmental, customs or financial dossiers. 

All in all, Tobacco Europe believes that FCTC Article 5.3 provides an opportunity to improve transparency, inclusivity, and the integrity of a decision-making process – especially in conjunction with the EU and OECD principles of Better Regulation.
Tobacco Europe and its members are legitimate, transparent and accountable stakeholders in European regulatory debates. The tobacco industry is a legal and integral partner of the EU institutions when it comes to tobacco-related legislation in the EU and rightly expects to be part of the decision-making process, as any other stakeholder.

Importantly, this was further highlighted by the EU Court of Justice recently (February 2022), when delivering a judgement in the case C- 160/20 on the methods to measure the emission levels in which it clearly stressed that Article 5.3 of the FCTC does not prohibit all tobacco industry involvement in tobacco control policymaking but seeks to prevent tobacco control policies from being influenced by tobacco industry interests.