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Background The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a voluntary framework, created by the United Nations (UN) in July 2000 to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt socially responsible and sustainable business practices.1 The UNGC describes itself as “the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative”,2 aimed to support companies to do business responsibly and to “advance broader societal goals,…

With approximately 1.42 million members covering over 20 different sectors, Unite is the largest trade union in the UK and is “dedicated to serving the best interests of its members and will seek to improve their standard of living and the quality of their lives though effective relationships with employers and government.”20 The union provides a variety of legal…

Background Created in 1952, Unitab is the European association of tobacco growers. As of 2014, the following national tobacco growers associations were listed as members: Belgium: Fédération Nationale des Planteurs de Tabac France: Fédération Nationaledes Producteurs de Tabac Germany: Bundesverband Deutscher Tabakpflanzer eV Greece: Confédération Panhellénique des Unions de Coopératives Agricoles Hungary: Magyar Dohanytermelok Orszagos Szovetsege Italy: Unione Italiana del…

Tobacco companies seek to influence public policy that impacts their business. One way they do this is by directly lobbying elected officials and political parties. The United Kingdom (UK) was shown to be the country with the least tobacco industry interference in 2017/18 as per the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index.53 Yet even here the tobacco industry…

This timeline provides a chronological overview of some of the main ways tobacco companies have tried to influence the development of the Uganda Tobacco Control Bill (now the Uganda Tobacco Control Act 2015). Click here for an infographic of industry interference in Uganda. Click here for the evidence countering industry arguments against tobacco control in Uganda. Timeline…

Uganda is a country in East Africa with an estimated population of 42.9 million.105 Tobacco growing and manufacturing was introduced in the 1920s by British American Tobacco (BAT) and Uganda is now an important player in the East African tobacco industry.106 Smoking in Uganda The 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of…

The tobacco industry and its associates have used a variety of arguments to oppose the Uganda Tobacco Control Bill (UTCB). These arguments have included: there is no evidence to support graphic health warnings are effective; there is no need to limit tobacco industry involvement in the policymaking process; there is no need to increase the legal…

BATU: A Major Player in East Africa’s Tobacco Industry British American Tobacco Uganda (BATU), a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), has been a major driver of East Africa’s tobacco industry since it first started business in Uganda in the 1920’s. In 2020, the company has a near-monopoly on Uganda’s tobacco market, with 51.7% of overall volume sales.114…

Tobacco Regulation in Uganda There are a handful of Ugandan laws relating to various aspects of tobacco control. Primarily, these laws include: Tobacco (Control and Marketing) Act (1967), Public Health Act (1964), Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995), National Environment Act (1996), the National Environment Regulations (2004) and the Tobacco Control Act (2015). Until 2015, Uganda had no comprehensive…

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC) describes itself as “the leading producer and marketer of moist Smokeless Tobacco” in the United States (US). According to market research company Euromonitor International, in 2019 it held just under 50% of the moist snuff market in the US.176 Background In 2009, U.S Smokeless Tobacco Company was acquired by Altria.177…