Tobacco Industry Interaction Policy

Purpose

This guidance outlines how the Government of Jersey limits interactions with the tobacco industry, in line with:

It applies to all government officials and ministers. All officials who interact with the tobacco industry, or those affiliated with it, must follow this guidance.

The FCTC, a global framework for effective tobacco control, aims to reduce tobacco demand and prioritise public health. In 2019, the UK's FCTC ratification was extended to Jersey after demonstrating compliance. Article 5.3 mandates that governments protect public health policies from the tobacco industry's commercial interests. The FCTC defines the tobacco industry as including:

tobacco manufacturers
wholesale distributors
importers of tobacco products
organisations or individuals with vested commercial interests in the tobacco industry
those receiving funding from the tobacco industry
entities furthering the interests of the tobacco industry, including organisations with industry-affiliated directors
tobacco growers
associations or other entities representing the above
industry lobbyists

The WHO has provided guidelines for implementing Article 5.3, which all FCTC parties, including Jersey, have agreed to follow across all government branches.

This guidance also supports decision making in organisations beyond the Government of Jersey. Encouraging them to adopt similar practices and to consider developing their own policies to meet Article 5.3 obligations.

For any enquiries or further information contact Public Health.

Government of Jersey approach

There is a clear conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health goals, so Government of Jersey officials must be very cautious in any dealings with the tobacco industry.

When interacting with individuals or organisations connected to the tobacco industry, officials need to be aware of their responsibilities under Article 5.3. For compliance with Article 5.3, any trade body, association, or organisation that has tobacco industry involvement or receives funding from it, is considered part of the tobacco industry.

The Government of Jersey will not accept, support, or endorse any partnerships, non-binding agreements, or voluntary arrangements with the tobacco industry, or with any person or entity working to further its interests. Additionally, government departments should not allow the tobacco industry to organise, promote, participate in, or carry out:

youth programs
public education
any activities related to tobacco control

While occasional interactions with the tobacco industry may be necessary to effectively regulate tobacco products, these interactions should be conducted with maximum transparency to ensure compliance with the FCTC.

Such interactions should happen only when absolutely necessary, for example when informing the tobacco industry about new packaging requirements and should focus solely on effective regulation and protecting public health.

Guidelines for meetings and events

Face-to-face meetings with the tobacco industry should be avoided whenever possible. However, in rare cases, a meeting may be necessary, such as to regulate the industry or its products.

Before agreeing to a meeting, Government of Jersey officials should consider:

what is the tobacco industry's role in the meeting
what is the Government of Jersey's role
who is organising the meeting
who is funding the meeting
who will attend the meeting
where is the meeting being held
how can informal interactions with the tobacco industry be avoided
how might this meeting be perceived by others
how can transparency be ensured throughout the meeting

Before the meeting, a clear agenda must be set, and only topics on that agenda should be discussed. At the start of the meeting, the chair should remind everyone of the government's Article 5.3 obligations and stop the meeting if these are breached.

Meeting minutes must be recorded and made public.

Government of Jersey officials should not attend events organised by the tobacco industry. They may attend non-tobacco industry-funded events where tobacco industry representatives are present, but only if the purpose is to:

enable effective regulation
gather information for regulation
protect and improve public health

If an official speaks at an event with tobacco industry representatives, they must clearly state the Government of Jersey's obligations under Article 5.3 in their presentation.

Policies and restrictions

Finance

Under no circumstances should departments or public authorities accept voluntary or non-binding funding directly or indirectly from the tobacco industry.

This policy aligns with the Government of Jersey's commitment to avoid any financial relationships that could compromise public health objectives or Article 5.3 obligations.

Consultations

When conducting a consultation on tobacco policy, ask respondents to declare any direct or indirect connections to, or funding from, the tobacco industry.

Be clear that any consultation comments from tobacco industry will not be accounted for in the development of any tobacco related policy.

Publication of interactions

To maintain transparency in interactions with the tobacco industry, the Government of Jersey will publish:

redacted and summarised correspondence received from tobacco industry representatives
responses sent to tobacco industry representatives
minutes from any meetings

The Government of Jersey is dedicated to making commercially non-sensitive correspondences and meeting minutes available to the public. These publications will be redacted as needed according to exemptions under Part 4 and Part 5 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Additionally, a report outlining significant interactions with the tobacco industry related to Article 5.3 of the FCTC will be updated as new interactions occur.

List of interactions with tobacco industry representatives 2024

Annex

Annex A: Framework Convention on Tobacco Control obligations

Summary of main points

The Government of Jersey should meet its obligations under the FCTC. Any actions that may conflict with the FCTC should be avoided.

Limit contact with the tobacco industry unless strictly necessary, such as in matters of regulatory significance. This includes any person or organisation that is likely to be working to further the interests of the tobacco industry.

All contact with the tobacco industry should be transparent, for example in public or in writing.

There should be no involvement or support in activities that promote the sale, export or import of tobacco or tobacco products.

Government of Jersey departments should not invest in the tobacco industry or provide help to tobacco companies to secure incentives.

Government of Jersey departments should not accept either direct or indirect funding from the tobacco industry, such as for community projects or capital investments. Payments, gifts and services, monetary or in-kind, offered by the tobacco industry can create conflicts of interest. They should also not accept invitations to attend or support a reception or high-profile event sponsored by the tobacco industry.

No endorsement of, or recommendations for, any tobacco industry organisation should be made, and care should be taken to avoid creating the impression that any such endorsement exists.

Projects, activities or work funded directly or indirectly by the tobacco industry should not be endorsed and care should be taken to avoid creating the impression that any such endorsement exists.

Government of Jersey departments should not endorse, support, form partnerships with, or take part in activities of the tobacco industry that could be described as 'socially responsible'. For example, this could relate to public education or activities that are aimed at improving public health.

Government of Jersey logos (including departmental branding) must not appear alongside the branding of any tobacco industry organisations, tobacco companies, or tobacco products.

The Government of Jersey should publish details of the meetings they have with the tobacco industry on its websites. To maximise transparency, organisations can correspond with the tobacco industry in writing and then make sure accurate records are made available for disclosure under Freedom of Information legislation.

Government of Jersey departments should verify whether an organisation, body, group or institution that contacts them about tobacco control has any affiliation to, or link with, the tobacco industry. Government of Jersey departments may wish to make any disclosed links transparent.

Annex B: further information about the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Tobacco is a uniquely dangerous consumer product. Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of premature and preventable death globally: it kills up to half its users and takes more than 8 million lives worldwide every year, equating to 7 million from direct use and around 1.3 million due to exposure to second-hand smoke.

And Jersey is no exception; in that, smoking is the biggest preventable cause of early death and chronic ill-health in Jersey. In 2020, for example, 19% of all deaths were attributed to smoking and 39% of deaths for conditions that can be caused by smoking. Furthermore, an estimated 1,120 hospital admissions in Jersey were attributable to smoking, representing 4% of all hospital admissions. There is also a sizeable financial burden on services and wider society.

For these reasons, tobacco warrants special regulatory treatment and is regulated differently to other goods, for example through packaging requirements and specific taxes.

There is a natural tension between the public health aim to reduce smoking prevalence and the vested interests of businesses that profit from making and selling tobacco products. The FCTC was thus adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003, and the UK's ratification was extended to Jersey in 2019. There are currently over 180 parties to the FCTC around the world, and it is the world's first public health treaty.

The FCTC is an evidence-based treaty that sets out obligations across a wide range of areas, including:

price and taxation
packaging, labelling and warnings
advertising, promotion and sponsorship
contents of tobacco products and product disclosures
education
tobacco cessation
illicit trade
sales to minors
protection from exposure to tobacco smoke and second-hand smoke
protection of tobacco control policies from the financial, and other vested interests of the tobacco industry
support for economically viable alternatives to tobacco growing

The FCTC guidelines

Parties to Article 5.3 agreed the Guidelines for implementation of article 5.3 on FCTC to help them meet their obligations. These guidelines reflect the parties' consolidated views of how best to implement the FCTC. The guidelines draw on evidence and the practical experience of the parties in handling tobacco industry tactics. They aim to ensure that efforts to protect tobacco control from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry are comprehensive and effective.

All parties to the FCTC agreed the text of the guidelines through consensus and that they should be implemented by all relevant branches of government. The agreed position is set out in the introduction to the guidelines and states:

“The guidelines are applicable to government officials, representatives and employees of any national, state, municipal, local or other public or semi and quasi-public institution or body within the jurisdiction of a Party, and to any person acting on their behalf. Any government branch (executive, legislative and judiciary) responsible for setting and implementing tobacco control policies and for protecting those policies against tobacco industry interests should be accountable."

Public servants should refer to the States of Jersey Codes of Practice for additional information regarding accountability.

The tobacco industry and social responsibility

Recommendation 6 of the guidelines addresses the issue of how the tobacco industry use activities that can be described as “socially responsible" as part of their marketing and public relations strategies, which are ultimately aimed at the promotion of tobacco consumption. The recommendation is:

“Denormalize and, to the extent possible, regulate activities described as ‘socially responsible’ by the tobacco industry, including but not limited to activities described as ‘corporate social responsibility’."

Under this recommendation, the guidelines explain that:

“The corporate social responsibility of the tobacco industry is, according to WHO, an inherent contradiction, as industry's core functions are in conflict with the goals of public health policies with respect to tobacco control."

The guidance makes a number of recommendations under recommendation 6, including that:

“Parties should not endorse, support, form partnerships with or participate in activities of the tobacco industry described as socially responsible."