What we do

There are four objectives of the Illicit Tobacco Partnership:

  1. To provide national leadership
  2. To provide strategic advice and guidance
  3. To influence policy development
  4. To advocate for effective tobacco regulation

Key resources

To support our objectives, the Illicit Tobacco Partnership has brought together a series of resources which provides strategic advice and guidance to partners who wish to address the problems of illicit tobacco within broader tobacco control programmes of activity:

The Illicit Tobacco Partnership has developed a strategic framework for partners that want to follow an evidence-based approach to reducing the illicit tobacco market within a wider tobacco control programme. The framework can be found here: Illicit-Tobacco-Programme-Strategic-Frameworkand covers eight strategic objectives.

1. Developing partnerships
2. Engaging frontline workers
3. Gathering and developing intelligence
4. Delivering enforcement
5. Delivering marketing and communications
6. Working with retailers and other businesses
7. Protecting policies from the vested interests of the tobacco industry
8. Assessing progress

The Illicit Tobacco Partnership has prepared a guide to provide Trading Standards officers, local authority communications teams and others with the knowledge, tools and templates to engage local media when there is activity to tackle illicit tobacco taking place. The guide will:

  • Save you time by making it easier to find the information you need to issue a press release
  • Increase accuracy and consistency of key messages relating to illicit tobacco
  • Point out some of the myths we need to steer away from.

Click here soon to view the new 2024 guide: Illegal-Tobacco-PR-Guide-March-2024

The Illicit Tobacco Partnership, along with colleagues in Trading Standards and the wider tobacco control community, has developed guidance designed to help local Trading Standards teams deliver tobacco control policies in line with the UK’s legal obligations as a party to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC requires parties to protect public health policies with respect to tobacco control ‘from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry,’ the interests of which are diametrically opposed to those working towards improvements in public health.
The document articulates the legal obligations placed on public authorities by the Treaty and illustrates established best practice for those working in this sector.

Guidance for Trading Standards on WHO FCTC 5.3-May 2023 is available to view and has been endorsed by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (update pending)