REQUIRE THAT INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY BE TRANSPARENT AND ACCURATE

This recommendation presumes that an interaction with the tobacco industry is strictly necessary or required by law. Its operation relies on government bodies or offices that have a specific task of regulating the tobacco industry directly or indirectly. Hence, the first step is to identify the government agencies in charge of regulating the industry, and then to:

a. Raise awareness among government agencies regulating the tobacco industry
b. Take stock of information collected from the tobacco industry and identify other tobacco industry information that needs to be gathered to help in setting and implementing tobacco control measures effectively.
c. Identify obstacles to collecting and disseminating information such as confidentiality clauses and address these.
d. Adopt a policy or law to require additional information as needed to implement tobacco control measures effectively. If possible, incorporate this policy into laws pertaining to freedom of information or commercial/ business/corporate laws.
e. Establish a process and a database system to make the information easily accessible to the public.
f. Ensure that proper sanctions are imposed for failure to submit information or for providing false information, and that such incidents are properly publicized to serve as a deterrent.

POLICY: TO REQUIRE INFORMATION FROM THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY

A draft policy template that sums up the list of information to be demanded from the tobacco industry and provides for sanctions in case of submission of false information.

TEMPLATE: Requiring Information from the Tobacco Industry

The guidelines for the implementation of Article 5.3 recommend that Parties develop policies requiring transparent and accurate information about the activities and practices of the tobacco industry to facilitate its regulation. The WHO FCTC further encourages that Parties implement measures beyond those recommended by the treaty and its guidelines.

CHECKLIST: INFORMATION THAT TOBACCO COMPANIES SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE