Table 3.

Policy and governance frames and arguments. The ‘NCD interventions’ category refers to arguments about what should be done to tackle NCDs. For simplicity, NCD interventions were grouped into two categories: (a) regulation and (b) self- and co-regulation (SR/CR). The former comprises regulatory interventions such as taxation, marketing restrictions and bans, and mandatory labelling. The latter comprises non-statutory or voluntary initiatives and public-private partnerships to address NCDs. ‘Broader governance’ encompasses issues pertaining to how decisions are made, who governs, and who is governed. This includes, for example, broader questions about the role of industry in policymaking

Key arguments in the context of:
FRAME	NCD interventions	Broader governance
Complexity	Regulation is too simplistic for the complex issue of NCDs	The complexity of NCDs necessitates collaboration with industry
Regulatory redundancy	Enough regulation is already in place	Conflict of interest is sufficiently managed (through FENSA)
	Industry is already regulating itself
	NCDs can be sufficiently addressed through non-statutory interventions
Partnership	Successful past collaboration justifies a partnership approach to NCD policy	Industry is a necessary partner in addressing NCDs
		Industry is a legitimate actor in NCD policy	Food industry is different to tobacco (or alcohol) industry
			Food industry is an important stakeholder
			Risk of engagement does not justify exclusion
Unintended consequences	Regulation may not have the intended health benefit (or may be counterproductive)	Restricting industry engagement in policymaking risks undermining the fight against NCDs
	Regulation may have unanticipated negative consequences
Evidence	There is insufficient (good) evidence in support of regulation	Industry supports evidence-based policymaking
	The existing evidence does not support regulation	Evidence-based policymaking requires the inclusion of all available evidence (including from industry)
Good Governance		Good governance requires working with industry
		Achieving policy coherence requires private sector input and alignment of health with economic agendas
Limited WHO mandate		WHO is overstepping its mandate
		Restricting industry engagement is incoherent with the multistakeholder approach (and the SDGs)
		National sovereignty	National governments hold the primary responsibility for addressing NCDs
			Policy may infringe on national sovereignty
			Policy may be incoherent with national legal obligations