SMALL GRANTS RESEARCH COMPETITION TO SUPPORT RATIFICATION, IMPLEMENTATION AND/OR ENFORCEMENT OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL (FCTC)

PROJECT TITLE: Research to assist in drafting, implementing and enforcing tobacco control legislation in Ukraine and other former USSR countries

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC-Ukraine)

PROJECT DATES: 30 August 2005 - : 30 August 2006

Project’s Overall Purpose

The project’s overall purpose was to determine what legislative provisions can actually implement the FCTC in the Ukrainian legislation in most efficient way.

Achievement of Objectives

The general conclusion is that national law provisions are not effective by themselves and need to be strengthened by regulations of the ministries and local authorities.

Some model acts for national legislation on specific issues (advertising, smoke-free policies, product regulation, etc) are prepared and published on our web-site in Russian. Some model local acts (on smoke free policies) are published on our web-site in Ukrainian (see http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru/coalition/doc/model_local.htm ).

Tobacco control situation in Ukraine during the project implementation experienced considerable changes. The FCTC was ratified by the Parliament on March 15, 2006 and deposited to UN on June 6, 2006. Tobacco control law was adopted by the Parliament on September 22, 2005 and was enacted (except several provisions, which are to be enacted later) since October 25, 2005. Some local councils in Ukraine adopted tobacco control regulations. All these changes provided materials for the research and some new activities (in addition to the planned ones) were conducted.

During the project implementation the following materials were analyzed:

The main research conclusions are the following:

1. Tobacco industry changed the way to protect its vested interests, concerning tobacco control legislation. While earlier they fought any tobacco control initiatives, at present they use “health protection” rhetoric to mislead the public and decision makers. For example in the amendments to tobacco control law adopted by the Verhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) in January-February 2006, the declared aim was “to create additional opportunities to introduce effective measures to prevent harmful influence of tobacco smoking on health”. However the text of amendments did not have any provisions, which protect health, but only tobacco industry vested interests (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/18.htm for details). The evidence that the tobacco industry is using "health promotion" rhetoric to mislead the public and decision makers was found at continuous monitoring of the tobacco related legislative initiatives. We performed the detailed analysis of tobacco industry allies’ legislative proposals and comparison with the FCTC provisions and existing legislative acts. The findings revealing the contradictions between the declared and the actual goals of the law were enclosed into the letter to the President, asking him to veto the law. This document (in Ukrainian) is kept in our database. Unfortunately, our opponents were stronger that time and the President signed the law. Tobacco industry even uses the FCTC wordings as instrument against the tobacco control.
2. The FCTC implementation and national tobacco control law enforcement needs national capacities. So in the near future main efforts should be conducted not on pushing new amendments to the national tobacco control legislation, but on awareness campaigns, capacity building and enforcement issues.  There are two ways of FCTC implementation in Ukraine: 1) to amend national legislation in line with the FCTC; 2) to strengthen national capacities and focus on awareness and enforcement issues. In our research we concluded that Ukraine can not move further by the first way, because the second way is too much behind.
3. Local tobacco control regulations are potential strong instrument for the implementation and enforcement of the FCTC provisions, however local capacity building is also needed for sustained efforts. National smoke free regulations can not be enforced properly only if national police is responsible for enforcement. There are examples that some enforcement of smoke-free policies is observed only in those settlements where local regulations are adopted even if they just repeat the provisions of the national law. Local authorities can: 1) involve much more local officials into enforcement; 2) introduce new smoke free places; 3) introduce local fees for violations. According to the national law local authorities are responsible for local regulations on tobacco control covering various issues: smoke-free enforcement, prevention, cessation, including funding of these activities. Unfortunately there are no requirements on amounts of this funding. The main problem of tobacco control in Ukraine is that it is still funded from foreign resources. Only in Cherkassy region local NGO managed to get some money from regional budget. Local tobacco regulations recently passed in Cherkassy, Kharkiv, Alushta, Kherson, Lutsk are the first steps to FCTC implementation not only at local, but on national level as well.

4. Model tobacco control legislative acts, relevant to current legal national or local tradition, are valuable tool to push effective tobacco control regulations. Earlier, before the national law was adopted, we have developed such model legislative acts and used them for advocating of the tobacco control legislation adoption on the national level. Recently such model acts were developed mostly as models for local legislation (see last version of the model local act at http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru /coalition/doc/model_local.htm ). We develop these acts together with local activists who have practical experience of developing and pushing such acts. We plan to update the model act on the basis of practical experience. In our model act we strengthen the positive provisions from real acts and delete counterproductive (such as ventilation) provisions.

The project results will add value to the existing tobacco control literature on tobacco control legislation, like Model Legislation for Tobacco Control, concerning specifics of such work in transition countries.

We would like to comment one of our finding, which could be of interest to tobacco control researchers in Ukraine and other countries: Tobacco industry tries to use FCTC as instrument against tobacco control. In Ukraine the industry vigorously fought tobacco control law, adopted in September 2005 and their main argument was: “Ukraine has to ratify the FCTC first and only then to adopt or change tobacco control legislation”. They used the FCTC provisions to push pro-industry amendments, adopted by the Parliament in February 2006. For example they proposed to change definition of misleading terms, like “light cigarettes” used in the Ukrainian Law, exactly according to the FCTC wording and at the same time they change provision of the law, which banned production, import and sale of cigarettes with such misleading terms since January, 1 2007 to provision, which banned only production and import. So the letter of the FCTC provisions was used to postpone legislation, based on the spirit of the FCTC provisions. For example, tobacco industry managed to push the law amendments, which postpone the “light” cigarette terms ban. If by previous version of the tobacco control law “light” cigarettes should disappear from Ukrainian shops since 1.01.2007, at present the cigarettes without misleading terms only will start to appear from that date.

Research Methodology

Interviews with present and former decision-makers and experts, who were involved in tobacco control legislation in Ukraine was conducted using the guidelines of the Qualitative research for Tobacco Control manual. The finding are presented in http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/22.htm

In brief the main finding is that national tobacco control legislation should be amended by ministerial and local regulations. However authorities are not able to initiate such amendments themselves and NGO pressure is needed. We plan to prepare a manuscript on the results of this qualitative study and to submit it to the Tobacco Control journal.

The results of the interviews with present and former-decision makers and experts are presented in http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/22.htm

The results of the round tables are also used in these documents, as well in model local act, press releases and some other documents.

We also conducted five round tables, concerning national and local legislative issues (in Kiev, Kirovograd, Sumy, Slavuta and Cherkassy). These round tables with experts were used as focus groups to study attitudes to the legislative proposals.

To prepare the comprehensive analytical report (see below) the information for analysis was collected from the following sources:

In June 2005, comprehensive national tobacco control survey was conducted in Ukraine. The survey data concerning tobacco control legislation were analyzed and used for presentations, which are submitted to the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (Washington, July 2006).

One of our innovative analytical techniques used to accomplish the project’s objectives was analysis of the Ukrainian MPs voting. Before the Tobacco Control Law was adopted it failed twice (in July and November, 2004) and altogether this law was put to the vote in the Parliament 12 times (including first and second readings, amendments and resolutions that the law is not acceptable). The data on each MP voting are available at the parliament web-site www.rada.gov.ua . Voting of 207 (of 450) MPs (including all political leaders) was analyzed and average score for each MP was calculated. There were parliamentary elections in Ukraine in March 2006. For every party, which took part in the elections and had MPs in its list, average score was calculated. These data (average score for the party and score of the party leader) were presented in a table. These data were commented with indication of pro-tobacco control and pro-tobacco industry statements and activities of the party members. The tables and comments were used for article “Attitudes of political parties of Ukraine to the tobacco control issues”, which was published on the web-site of the Coalition for Tobacco Free Ukraine and distributed by email to advocates and media on February 6, 2006 (see http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru/coalition/analyt/polpart.htm).

Unfortunately we do not have many reactions as in Ukraine tobacco control is far from being a priority on a political agenda. However this analysis is useful for lobbying efforts as we can define those MPs which are more positive or negative to tobacco control, while not expressing their views in public.

This particular analytic technique was added to the study, as at the time of project proposal writing we did not have enough material for such analysis. At the same time some other NGOs in Ukraine tried to analyze public health positions of the political parties just before elections. They used declarations and programs of the parties for the analysis. However in Ukraine parties often ignore their own programs after elections. Our colleagues said that our analytic technique is a more precise instrument to measure real position of the parties.

We can recommend the technique use to other tobacco control researchers only if they have enough data for analysis and multi-party system.

Impact and Utilization of Results

Based on the data collected through the national survey on tobacco use conducted in June, 2005, evidence regarding the effectiveness and public support of such measures as smoke-free policies in public and workplaces, health warnings and ban of ‘light’ cigarettes was produced and provided to the minister of health who was the author of the national law before the law was put to vote in the parliament in September 2005. We hope that our data had some influence on the tobacco control law adoption on September 22, 2005.

At the national level the specific policy recommendations the research team made were expressed in our comments to the tobacco control law amendments passed in February, 2006 (we failed that time) and later in our comments to the Ministry of Justice proposals (see below).

The research influenced policy-decisions at local level.

While the President of Ukraine signed the ratification law on March 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delayed with formal FCTC ratification. The press-conference was organized on May 30, 2006 with participation of the former Minister of Health Dr. Mykola Polischuk to encourage the FCTC ratification and law enforcement. The project research results were presented at the press-conference. We presented results of our findings on the tobacco control law enforcement. The reaction was positive. Journalists from 9 TV channels were present and mainly law enforcement issues were covered in their reports. After the press-conference Dr. Mykola Polischuk was invited to the radio and during the program Mr. Buteiko (First deputy minister of Foreign Affairs) called and promised to push the FCTC ratification. So our media efforts could be a final drop to the FCTC ratification process.

The FCTC was officially ratified on June 6, 2006.

In July 2006 research team members Konstantin Krasovsky and Tatiana Andreeva were invited by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to participate in the working group on amendments to tobacco control legislation in Ukraine. Our recommendations were partly used for final document, which was presented by the Ministry in September 2006.

The following tobacco control amendments were under consideration by the working group:

We specifically recommend:

1.      To increase size of health warnings to 50%.

2.      Not to make tar and nicotine limits more severe (like in EU), but to include other harmful substances in regulations

3.      To ban some more forms of advertising to make the ban more comprehensive

4.      To clarify smoke-free provisions (for example, special smoking places should not be obligatory as smoking can be banned in the whole building)

The Ministry of Justice presented the working group’s report (some our proposals were included) as official proposal of the Ministry and at present they wait for reaction of other Ministries. The ministry of health asked our advice for this reaction and we proposed to support the proposal of the Ministry of Justice and amend it with those our proposals, which were not accepted (for example, 50% size of health warnings).

Research team members used research results to provide assistance to tobacco control advocates in Kyrgyzstan (in March 2006), where draft tobacco control legislation was discussed. Our advices were used for the final draft of the law and it was adopted by the parliament of Kyrgyzstan on June 16, 2006 and signed by the president in September.

We can mention the following advices, which were accepted in the final text:

Research team members used research results to provide assistance to tobacco control advocates in Ukraine for development of local tobacco control provisions (mainly concerning smoke free regulations). Local acts, which used our recommendations, were already adopted in such cities as Cherkassy, Lutsk and Kherson and we expect some more in the near future.

We can mention the following recommendations:

The obstacle for such local activities was the selection of cities and towns for intervention. Some cities and towns, which were selected at planning stage were not able to push the local legislation, however we involve some new ones, which occur to be more successful.

Dissemination

Comprehensive analytical report on tobacco control legislation in Ukraine was prepared. This report was published part by part in Russian as issues of the Contact newsletters, which is sent to more than 600 tobacco control advocates in Ukraine and other former USSR counties:

1. Part 1. Tobacco control law in Ukraine. How it was adopted. Detailed analysis of the history of the law development and adoption, including recommendations for tobacco control advocates from various countries, was prepared and published at the Tobacco Control Resource Center web-site in November 2005 (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/17.htm )
2. Part 2. Tobacco control law in Ukraine. Strong and weak provisions, opportunities for improvement. Detailed analysis of the law provisions by special tobacco control issues was prepared and published at the tobacco Control Resource Center web-site in May 2006 (see http://contact.t.org/contact/tem/19.htm )
3. Part 3. Tobacco control law in Ukraine. Tactics of legislative activities (problems and recommendations). Guidelines on solving specific problems, which are typical for tobacco control legislation development process, are presented with examples of advocacy activities in Ukraine and other countries. It was published at the tobacco Control Resource Center web-site in July 2006 (see     http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/21.htm )
4. Part 4. Tobacco control law in Ukraine. Experts’ opinions on the law, its enforcement and improvement. 15 national tobacco control experts were interviewed and their responses were generalized and presented as answers to current challenges to tobacco control in Ukraine. It was published at the tobacco Control Resource Center web-site in August 2006 (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/22.htm ).

On January 17, 2006 the Parliament adopted amendments to the Tobacco Control Law. These amendments were presented as protecting health, while actually they protected tobacco industry interests. Analysis of the amendments was prepared and presented to our allies in the parliament.

The main features of the amendments are the following:

Unfortunately the Parliament adopted the amendments in second reading on February 9. More detailed analysis of the amendments was prepared and sent to the President of Ukraine urging him to veto the law. Short press-release (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/media/pr-rel10.htm ) on the issue was send to the media. The media pick up on this press release and provide very little coverage of it (we have some examples), unfortunately it was time before the parliamentary elections, and other issues were more important for the media. Unfortunately in the atmosphere of approaching elections our voice was not heard and the President did sign the law on amendments. In March, 2006 analysis of the tricks used to push the amendments was presented in the paper “Rules of legislative camouflage” (http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/18.htm ) published at the Tobacco Control Resource Center web-site.

Some smoke-free provisions of the tobacco control law in Ukraine entered into force on July 1, 2006. Special issue of the Contact newsletter called “Questions and answers on new smoke-free provisions” was issued on June 28, 2006 (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/contact/tem/20.htm )

The project outputs were presented at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (Washington, July 2006) in the following papers and reports:

The project outputs were also used for numerous TV, radio and newspapers interviews published or issued during the project implementation.  Proactive media work (sending out press-releases on important tobacco related events) resulted in a situation that media readily contact us if they need any comment regarding tobacco-related news. This achievement makes it possible to media-advocate political changes in the sphere of tobacco control. Our position as a position of Coalition ‘For tobacco free Ukraine’ is mostly presented in the media. We suggest that media activities contributed to the smoke-free provisions enforcement more, that the authorities activities. We visited some places with journalists (for example subway at the famous Maidan) to see that there are mush less smokers there.

We also encourage common people to participate in enforcement. Some experts we interviewed even consider main impact of the tobacco control law in huge media coverage.

Capacity Building

The materials on Qualitative Research for Tobacco Control presented at the seminar in Ottawa occur to be very useful for capacity development of research team members.

During the project implementation the local network of tobacco control advocates dealing with legislative issues was rather strengthened and we expect its development in the near future.

Involvement of Key Stakeholders

On February 7, 2006 the Coalition for Tobacco Free Ukraine has sent formal letters to 37 political parties, which took part in the parliamentary elections, asking them about their position on key tobacco control issues: the FCTC ratification; tobacco tax increase; tobacco advertising ban; smoke-free regulations enforcement; provision of smoking cessation help and tobacco dependence treatment. Unfortunately only 2 parties (“Our Ukraine” and People’s Movement of Ukraine) responded, but both of them expressed their support of the Coalition proposals.

The brief summarize of the Coalition proposals:

1/ FCTC ratification and implementation

2/ Tobacco advertising ban within one year

3/ Increase tobacco tax rates at least twice

4/ Establishment of working mechanism of smoke-free provision enforcement

5/ Establishment and funding public cessation services

(see http://adic-ukraine.narod.ru/coalition/pres/pr-043.htm ).

Contact with Other Researchers

ADIC-Ukraine works as a resource centre for Russian speaking countries and main project results were available to all researchers involved in this small grants competition, who can read Russian.

Some results of other researchers were published in Russian at our web site, such as report of Denis Vinnikov from Kyrgyzstan (see http://contacttobinfo.narod.ru/2006/kg_student_survey.htm )

We had a meeting with other researchers during the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (Washington, July 2006) to discuss our collaboration in the future.

Finally, we would like to mention that the project occurs to be very timely as tobacco control legislation in Ukraine changes very quickly during the project implementation, and research to assist in its drafting, implementing and enforcing receives more attention.