In Senegal, the decree of the anti-smoking law adopted without consultation with NGOs

The Senegalese League Against Tobacco (Listab) regretted not having been consulted before the adoption of the implementing decree of the 2014 law on tobacco products in Senegal, which it had been demanding for several years. Listab fears that the tobacco industry is behind this maneuver, as the details of the decree have not yet been revealed.

"Scandal of the century", this is how the Senegalese League Against Tobacco (Listab) described the publication of the implementing decree of the 2014 law. Concerning the manufacture, packaging, labeling, sale and use of tobacco, law no. 2024-14 of March 28, 2014 was still awaiting its implementing decree. Listab has repeatedly called for the publication of this decree and had blamed the delay on interferences from the tobacco industry to the government level[1].

Fears of interference from the tobacco industry

The publication of the implementing decree was announced in the press release of the Council of Ministers of October 4, 2023, without further indication and without any prior consultation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)[2]However, they were the ones who supported the anti-tabac bill adopted in 2014. "Never has an anti-smoking law been amended without having been shared between all stakeholders in a technical committee", Listab was indignant.[3]This attitude of the government constitutes in itself a step backwards, in view of the progress made by Senegal in recent years.

This lack of transparency and consultation is deciphered by Listab as a "silent procedure used in complicity with the tobacco industry". Listab notably implicates the Ministry of Health and the General Secretariat of the Government. Several indications of discreet influence by the tobacco industry have indeed been listed. In 2018, the government authorized Philip Morris to build classrooms for a school, while the 2014 law prohibits agreements between the government and cigarette companies. During the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, the government accepted a large donation from Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, a Mauritanian billionaire involved in tobacco sales.

Senegal joins the Codentify system

In May 2021, Senegal adopted the Codentify system, developed by tobacco manufacturers and intended to ensure the traceability of tobacco products. However, a study by the Center for Policy Studies for Development (CEPOD), carried out in January 2017 for the Ministry of Economy, explicitly recommended against adhering to this system[4]. THE Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products, ratified by Senegal, excludes any traceability system that would come from cigarette manufacturers.

The latest edition of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, published in 2021, does not show Senegal as being particularly affected by industry influences. However, it does highlight a lack of preventive measures in this country to protect itself from these influences. The approach of a presidential election in February 2024 raises fears that some candidates may benefit from hidden funding from the tobacco industry.

To learn more about the status of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade, see our case.

Keywords: Senegal, law n° 2024-14, implementing decree, Listab.

©Tobacco Free Generation

M.F.

[1] Senegal: Activists demand enforcement of anti-smoking law, Ouestaf News, published on February 19, 2020, consulted on October 9, 2023.

[2] Press release from the Council of Ministers of October 4, 2023, Presidency of Senegal, published on October 4, 2023, consulted on October 9, 2023.

[3] Ndiaye N, Law on the manufacture, packaging, labeling and sale of tobacco: LISTAB denounces the adoption of the draft implementing decree without their involvement, Rewmi, published October 9, 2023, consulted October 9, 2023.

[4] CEPOD, Study on the situational analysis of illicit tobacco trade, Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning, January 2017, 56 p.