The World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

A global convention on tobacco control was signed on 28 May 2003. It was adopted in May 2003 by the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation. The Convention is to limit tobacco consumption and the growing ill-health caused by tobacco.

Every year, almost five million people die of tobacco-related ill-heath around the world. In 2020, this figure is expected to have risen to ten million people, seven million of whom will be in the developing countries.

Global cooperation is crucial to the success of efforts to prevent ill-health caused by smoking. Trends affecting tobacco consumption are increasingly cross-border. While tobacco consumption in the industrialised world has declined in the last 20 years, it has steadily increased in the developing countries. The most marked change today is the reduction in tobacco consumption by well-educated men in the western world, while women in the West and men in developing countries are smoking more and more heavily.

International rules for cross-border issues

An international framework convention is an effective tool for dealing with the broad spectrum of issues that have a bearing on the tobacco sector. The Convention establishes international rules for cross-border issues. The Convention also supports individual countries in developing their national legislation and policies on smoking prevention. It is also a set of rules for the areas affecting tobacco consumption. Countries may also have more stringent legislation than that indicated in the Convention.

What does the Framework Convention contain?

The Convention contains measures in all areas that are central to limiting tobacco consumption. Examples of measures in important areas are:

Advertising, marketing and sponsorship

All countries adopting the Convention are to introduce rules prohibiting advertising, marketing and sponsorship and that do not conflict with their own constitutions. The Convention also states that the countries that are unable to implement a comprehensive prohibition must introduce strict limitations and that the advertising that is permitted must include a warning text. There must be special regulations for cross-border advertising, i.e. TV, radio, print media and the Internet.

Smoke-free environments

Taking measures against passive smoking is one of the most important initiatives for reducing tobacco-related ill-health. The Convention provides clear regulations for smoke-free environments. The international community has thereby underlined how important the issue is. The Convention states that countries must introduce a ban on smoking in public buildings, at the workplace and on public transport.

Warning texts, declarations of contents and maximum levels

In some countries, warning texts are the only source of information that are used to inform about the harmful effects of tobacco. The Convention calls on all parties to introduce national regulations and legislation on warning texts and declarations of contents on the tobacco packet. Warning texts must occupy a minimum of 30 per cent of the principal display areas of the packet.
The Convention also calls for national regulations and maximum levels for hazardous substances in tobacco products. Rules already existing in Sweden and the EU prohibiting labelling products, for example, "light" or "mild", have also been incorporated into the Convention.

Taxation and pricing

The Convention draws attention to taxation as an important aspect of an effective tobacco policy. However, there are no binding rules with regard to taxation and pricing in the Convention. This is because it is national parliaments that decide on tax policy.

Young people and tobacco

The Convention includes a rule on an age limit for the sale of tobacco to young people. The rule is a limit of 18 or an age set by national law. The Convention also states that the age of the buyer must be checked at the point of sale and that vending machines must be supervised. In order to prevent children in developing countries from earning a living by starting to sell tobacco at a very early age, the Convention also allows countries to introduce an age limit for people selling tobacco.

Framework Convention important for sustainable development

In 2020, seven out of a total of ten million tobacco-related deaths are expected to take place in developing countries. The Framework Convention is closely linked to the implementation plan adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The plan highlights the urgent need to tackle the causes of ill-health.

Tobacco is also an important aspect from a development perspective. Both in international development efforts and in poverty reduction, great emphasis is placed on countries themselves producing national strategies. Sweden and the rest of the EU are very positive to initiatives to integrate tobacco control into this work. Here, all of civil society has an important role to play by actively promoting prioritisation of this issue in national development strategies.

• Tobacco consumption contributes to continuing poverty, because large parts of peoples' incomes are used to buy tobacco.
• Tobacco consumption contributes to ill-health, not just for the smoker, but also for his/her family.
• Tobacco cultivation contributes to soil impoverishment, as opposed to other, alternative crops.

Implementation of the Convention

In December 2003 an inquiry (ToR 2003:168) was appointed. The inquiry chair was tasked with presenting a proposal for national implementation of the Convention. This proposal was presented to the Government in September 2004.

On 2 May 2005, the Riksdag accepted the bill "Tobacco control: implementation of the WHO Framework Convention". The bill included proposals for limiting sponsorship by the tobacco industry and restrictions on marketing tobacco, clearer requirements for information about the prohibition against selling or providing tobacco goods to minors, and more stringent age checks.

On 2 June 2005, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was ratified.