Southeast Asian countries to strengthen tobacco tax policies

1 Regional Workshop

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) in partnership with the People’s Health Foundation (PHF), Myanmar; the Internal Revenue Department and the Ministry of Finance in Myanmar; and the World Health Organization (WHO) held a “Regional Workshop on Tobacco Taxation in ASEAN Countries” last September 18-19, 2015 at Taw Win Garden Hotel in Yangon Myanmar. 

Dr. U Than Sein, President of PHF and Ms. Bungon Ritthiphakdee, SEATCA’s Executive Director gave the inaugural address and welcomed the delegates. 

During the workshop, the delegates discussed the WHO FCTC Article 6 Guidelines, shared lessons learned on tobacco tax policy development and implementation, exchanged stories on challenges and counter measures on tobacco industry interference and were encouraged to develop a long-term plan for effective tobacco taxation in their respective countries to cope with the tobacco industry interference in tobacco taxation. 

On the first day of the workshop, SEATCA also launched its first tobacco tax index entitled Tobacco Tax Index: Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 6 in ASEAN Countries. This is the world’s first index on tobacco tax in the ASEAN region. 

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