On 19 February 2020 Mexico banned the importation of electronic cigarettes, with or without nicotine, and heated tobacco products through a Presidential Decree.

The Decree, published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF), covers a need for harmonization in the regulatory framework in order to prevent illegal trade of these products, according to the official press release.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey has adopted on 30 June 2021 an amendment to the regulation of manufacturing and labeling of tobacco products, requiring the increase in the size of the pictorial health warnings of cigarette packs.

The Danish Parliament has adopted in December 2020 an amendment to the Tobacco Act - the main source of law regulating tobacco products - establishing a requirement to ensure that “each unit pack and any outer packaging [of tobacco products] has a standardized design”. This requirement does not apply to cigars and pipe tobacco.

The National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) of Cambodia issued a new directive, on 18 March 2021, instructing all relevant ministries and institutions to take immediate action to stop the use and commercialization of heated tobacco products (HTPs), as well as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS, also known as e-cigarettes).

The report on Examples of current practices on the implementation of Article 12 (Free zones and international transit) of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products was launched on 18 March 2021 during a technical webinar organized by the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC.

The report focuses on implementation of Article 12 of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, with a view to showcasing international good practices in the operation and control of free zones.

Tobacco growers in the South of Lebanon have felt in the past years that growing tobacco is no longer a profitable business, compared to the investment in time and effort needed for its cultivation. Farmers have been searching for a suitable alternative crop, and some have found it in saffron, which is a endemic species to the Mediterranean region.

Every year, 2.7 million people in the European Union (EU) are diagnosed with cancer, and 1.3 million die from it. Over 40% of cancer cases are preventable. Without reversing current trends, it could become the leading cause of death in the EU.

Picture warnings are now at arm’s length in Trinidad and Tobago after the Senate has approved new Regulations requiring them on 9 February 2021.

This ends a long history of preparatory work that contained various milestones. The Tobacco Control Act, adopted in 2009 and the Tobacco Control Regulations, 2013 contained requirements for two sets of 12 picture warnings. However, as some of the images were to be taken from the EU library and the matter of permissions has not been sorted out, the 2013 Regulations were not implemented.