Tobacco consumption is the single largest avoidable health risk in the EU. Having long acknowledged this threat, the EU was instrumental in designing and achieving consensus on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The FCTC entered into force in 2005 and was ratified by the EU and its Member States. The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) is the leading NGO in the EU advocating for FCTC implementation. Since its creation, SFP spearheaded high-profile campaigns across Europe to introduce effective and evidence-based smoking prevention measures. In 2014, SFP formalised its working partnerships by creating the Smoke Free Partnership Coalition. The overarching strategic goal of this proposal is to improve the health of EU citizens and reduce health inequalities by promoting smoking prevention at EU and Member State level with a special focus on young people. During this three year period, SFP set four strategic objectives: 1. Promote and support smoking prevention at EU and national level through the development of advocacy strategies that deliver specific EU tobacco control policies 2. Promote and support smoking prevention at international, European and national level through the development and implementation of the FCTC, its protocols and guidelines 3. Mobilise and strengthen the capacity of European and national civil society to complement, support and add value to the policies of the EU and of the Member States4. Strengthen SFP’s institutional capacity to enable it to meet its goal and objectivesThis proposal shows how the SFP Coalition will contribute to Objective 1 of the Health Programme as our work directly relates to health promotion, disease prevention and the fostering of supportive environments for healthy lifestyles. The outcomes of this proposal will complement, support and add value to EU and Member State policies which aim to improve the health of EU citizens and reduce health inequalities.


In 2015, in recognition to its achievements, SFP was awarded the prestigious Luther L. Terry Award for Exemplary Leadership in Tobacco Control for Outstanding Organisation by the American Cancer Society. In 2016, SFP will continue to live up to this recognition by striving towards the fulfilment of its three year plan objectives:

1. Promote and support smoking prevention at EU and national level through the development of advocacy strategies that deliver specific EU tobacco control policies.

2. Promote and support smoking prevention at international, European and national level through the development and implementation of the FCTC, its protocols and guidelines.
3. Mobilise and strengthen the capacity of European and national civil society to complement, support and add value to the policies of the EU and of the Member States.

4. Strengthen SFP’s institutional capacity to enable it to meet its goal and objectives.

The SFP Coalition Annual Work Programme for 2016 will reinforce SFP Coalition policy work by providing tobacco control activities and deliverables in accordance with its strategic priorities and will continue to build upon the groundwork laid down in 2015. It will also assist to achieve the final goal of the SFP Coalition’s three-year work plan which is to improve the health of EU citizens and reduce health inequalities by promoting smoking prevention at EU and Member State level with a special focus on measures that prevent the uptake of smoking by young people. This will be done through a high level of cooperation, coordination and advocacy work of SFP Coalition with advocates, academia, researchers and policy makers.




The overarching goal of the SFP Coalition multiannual work programme between 2018 and 2021 is to prevent cancer and chronic diseases through smoking prevention at EU and national level with a special focus on young people and health in all policies. In the third year of the multi-annual programme, the SFP Coalition will work on:

- The multi-annual campaign for raising tobacco excise duties through national and EU-level policy advocacy
- The multi-annual campaign to raise awareness of and support for tobacco control research
- Developing and implementing an awareness campaign towards policy-makers to recognize the crucial role of tobacco control in the prevention of non-communicable diseases and promotion of sustainable health systems in both national health policy and in development policy
- Encouraging civil dialogue by continuing to build capacity of health organisations to engage in the monitoring the EU’s track and trace system and its 2018 strategy and action plan to fight against illicit trade.
- Developing an evidence-based advocacy campaign for strengthening tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship regulations at national and EU level
- Raising awareness and building broad support for tobacco control and FCTC obligations amongst policy makers and the health and research community
- Coordinating European civil society positions and activities at the 9th session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC and 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the Illicit Trade Protocol, with a view to supporting global advocacy and actionable decisions for civil society in the EURO region
- Monitoring, exposing and rebutting tobacco industry interference (throughout all policy and advocacy work).

SFP will also continue engaging Coalition members in EU level campaigns and supporting national efforts to improve tobacco control policies by strengthening capacity for effective civil dialogue and tobacco control advocacy at national, European and global levels.


In the fourth and last year of the multi-annual work programme under our FPA 2018-2021, the Smoke Free Partnership coalition work plan for 2021 will continue the work towards the achievement of the overarching goal of preventing cancer and chronic diseases through smoking prevention at EU and national level with a special focus on young people and health in all policies:
- The campaign for increasing minimum excise duties on tobacco products as part of the revision of the EU Tobacco Tax Directive.
- The campaign to promote tobacco control research.
- The campaign to recognise the role of tobacco control funding within international development assistance programmes at EU and member state level as part of chronic disease prevention and sustainable health systems.
- The campaign to reduce and eliminate the tobacco industry interference in the fight against the illicit trade of tobacco products at EU and global level.
- The campaign to strengthen tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) restrictions and enforcement at national and European level.
- The campaign to communicate the role, value and impact of FCTC implementation to policy makers in EU and national institutions, particularly in the context of the lessons drawn from the coronavirus crisis for European health systems.
- The ongoing activities to monitor, expose and rebut tobacco industry interference across all policy work.
- Co-ordinating European civil society advocacy ahead of, during, and after the 9th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC (COP9) and the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the Illicit Trade Protocol (MOP2) .


The Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) is the only Coalition of national, pan-European and international NGOs working exclusively on EU policy analysis and advocacy linked to the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Since its creation in 2005, SFP has led many successful campaigns to advance important EU smoking prevention policy areas, most notably European smoke-free policies and the Tobacco Products Directive, but also the EU Tobacco Tax Directive and policies against illicit tobacco trade. SFP has been recognised for its tobacco control work by the World Health Organisation with the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2011. SFP was also a recipient of the American Cancer Society’s 2015 Luther L. Terry Award for outstanding global achievement and exemplary leadership in Tobacco Control.
This application demonstrates how our strategic objectives directly respond to the first three specific priority areas of the 2017 Call for Proposals for Operating Grants. In particular, SFP and its Coalition Partners will assist the EU institutions and national governments with information and evidence-based intelligence and advice for the development of smoking prevention policies and the promotion of healthy lifestyles to prevent cancer and chronic diseases at EU and national level with a special focus on young people, reducing health inequalities, and promoting health in all policies. SFP will contributing to civil dialogue processes to increase public authorities’ commitment in this area by spearheading successful campaigns and building advocacy capacity among civil society organisations. This application also describes how we will contribute to the objectives of the European Solidarity Corps.
Based on our previous track record of producing results, this application also demonstrates how SFP and its Coalition partners will continue to contribute to the overarching and specific objectives of the Third Health Programme (2014-2020).
