. 2022 Jul 7;51(8):1108–1121. doi: 10.1177/14034948221106867

Table II.

Strategies to strengthen the preventive tobacco policies and facilitate their adoption and implementation.

Strengthening the tobacco policies	Strategies to facilitate policy adoption and implementation
Extending regulations to all products Stronger protection from the tobacco / nicotine industry to reduce the number or availability of tobacco and nicotine products on the markets. Further measures to control the supply of nicotine products entering the domestic and European markets. Extending the regulations to all tobacco and nicotine products. High and consistent tax and price measures Increasing taxes and prices on all tobacco and nicotine products. Ensuring that tax measures apply also to novel products. Ensuring a high minimum price for all products. Extending prohibitions on TAPS to novel channels Extending regulations on TAPS to also cover contemporary advertising channels, such as social media and packages of all products. Online sales should be banned as they inherently involve tobacco advertising and promotion. Consistent implementation of advanced tobacco policies across the countries Increasing implementation of the advanced measures recommended by the WHO FCTC, such as comprehensive outdoor smoking bans, plain packaging, flavour bans on all tobacco and nicotine products, bans on distance purchasing, and a minimum age of 20 or 21 years for sales.	National Developing national endgame objectives and strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco consumption, nicotine addiction, and exposure to tobacco smoke in line with the WHO FCTC and Europe’s beating cancer plan. Applying the HiAP approach and ‘child frame’ to strengthen societal and political support for tobacco prevention. Classification of all novel and emerging tobacco and nicotine products as tobacco products or other integration of these products into the national tobacco control regulations to prevent novel products from circumventing the regulations. Providing essential resources for sustainable progress, for instance, by earmarking money from tobacco taxes for prevention. Strengthening intersectoral collaboration and networking between the health ministry, tobacco control units, civil society, and other relevant actors, for instance, by allocating resources to coordinating efforts and co-operation. Developing national strategies in line with the WHO FCTC (Article 5.3) to protect tobacco control and public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. Countering tobacco industry interference. Establishing measures to limit interactions of public officials and civil servants with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of any interactions that occur. Governments should prohibit, or at least mandate the disclosure of, the tobacco industry’s donations of funds and in-kind contributions to political parties, trade unions or their foundations, and think tanks. The corporate social responsibility strategies of the tobacco industry should be de-normalized and prohibited. Nordic Collaboration to ensure consistent tobacco control objectives, strategies, and policies across the Nordic countries. Introducing and strengthening HiAP as a joint approach for decision making on tobacco prevention and public health. Activating networks for consultation and collaboration to ensure the diffusion and feasible implementation of policies from one country to another. Co-operation and coordinated efforts to limit legal and illicit cross-border advertising and trade as well as other phenomena that cause challenges to tobacco prevention across the countries. Europe Nordic countries’ active participation in developing the international and European regulations, policies, and policy guidelines (WHO FCTC, EU directives), for instance: 1. Investing in continuous production of scientific evidence to back up the global and European policy agreements. Strengthening the international requirements and guidance for policy implementation, especially the national strategies to provide protection from the tobacco industry in line with the WHO FCTC (Article 5.3.). 2. Advocating for extending TPD and TTD to cover all tobacco and nicotine products and strengthening the overall requirements of TTD. Supporting the revision of TAD to also cover contemporary advertising channels such as social media and packages of all tobacco and nicotine products.

Strengthening the tobacco policies

Strategies to facilitate policy adoption and implementation

Extending regulations to all products
Stronger protection from the tobacco / nicotine industry to reduce the number or availability of tobacco and nicotine products on the markets. Further measures to control the supply of nicotine products entering the domestic and European markets. Extending the regulations to all tobacco and nicotine products.
High and consistent tax and price measures
Increasing taxes and prices on all tobacco and nicotine products. Ensuring that tax measures apply also to novel products. Ensuring a high minimum price for all products.
Extending prohibitions on TAPS to novel channels
Extending regulations on TAPS to also cover contemporary advertising channels, such as social media and packages of all products. Online sales should be banned as they inherently involve tobacco advertising and promotion.
Consistent implementation of advanced tobacco policies across the countries
Increasing implementation of the advanced measures recommended by the WHO FCTC, such as comprehensive outdoor smoking bans, plain packaging, flavour bans on all tobacco and nicotine products, bans on distance purchasing, and a minimum age of 20 or 21 years for sales.

National
Developing national endgame objectives and strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco consumption, nicotine addiction, and exposure to tobacco smoke in line with the WHO FCTC and Europe’s beating cancer plan. Applying the HiAP approach and ‘child frame’ to strengthen societal and political support for tobacco prevention. Classification of all novel and emerging tobacco and nicotine products as tobacco products or other integration of these products into the national tobacco control regulations to prevent novel products from circumventing the regulations. Providing essential resources for sustainable progress, for instance, by earmarking money from tobacco taxes for prevention. Strengthening intersectoral collaboration and networking between the health ministry, tobacco control units, civil society, and other relevant actors, for instance, by allocating resources to coordinating efforts and co-operation.
Developing national strategies in line with the WHO FCTC (Article 5.3) to protect tobacco control and public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. Countering tobacco industry interference. Establishing measures to limit interactions of public officials and civil servants with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of any interactions that occur. Governments should prohibit, or at least mandate the disclosure of, the tobacco industry’s donations of funds and in-kind contributions to political parties, trade unions or their foundations, and think tanks. The corporate social responsibility strategies of the tobacco industry should be de-normalized and prohibited.
Nordic
Collaboration to ensure consistent tobacco control objectives, strategies, and policies across the Nordic countries. Introducing and strengthening HiAP as a joint approach for decision making on tobacco prevention and public health. Activating networks for consultation and collaboration to ensure the diffusion and feasible implementation of policies from one country to another. Co-operation and coordinated efforts to limit legal and illicit cross-border advertising and trade as well as other phenomena that cause challenges to tobacco prevention across the countries.
Europe
Nordic countries’ active participation in developing the international and European regulations, policies, and policy guidelines (WHO FCTC, EU directives), for instance:
1. Investing in continuous production of scientific evidence to back up the global and European policy agreements. Strengthening the international requirements and guidance for policy implementation, especially the national strategies to provide protection from the tobacco industry in line with the WHO FCTC (Article 5.3.).
2. Advocating for extending TPD and TTD to cover all tobacco and nicotine products and strengthening the overall requirements of TTD. Supporting the revision of TAD to also cover contemporary advertising channels such as social media and packages of all tobacco and nicotine products.

EU: European Union; HiAP: health in all policies; TAPS: tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; TPD: Tobacco Products Directive; TTD: Tobacco Taxation Directive; WHO FCTC: World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.