Switzerland: Health professionals call for ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

More than one hundred healthcare professionals have sent an open letter to the Federal Council and Parliament calling for the "immediate" ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).[1]. More than twenty years after signing it, Switzerland remains among the few countries that have still not become Parties to the treaty. The 116 signatories of the open letter express their concern about the currently decisive influence of the tobacco lobby on Swiss public health policies, which threatens the health of young people, and call on Switzerland to assume greater responsibility towards future generations. This initiative comes on the occasion of the 11thᵉ Conference of the Parties (COP11) of the FCTC which is being held in Geneva from 17 to 22 November 2025 and must decide on the roadmap for the global fight against tobacco.

In the midst of COP11, a situation deemed urgent by healthcare professionals

The authors of the letter stress the need to reduce tobacco consumption and better protect young people from nicotine products, some of which are experiencing rapid growth, such as electronic cigarettes, snus, nicotine sachets and heated tobacco.

According to the FOPH's "Health & Lifestyle 2024" survey, 45% of Swiss 18-24 year olds already use tobacco or nicotine products. These figures remain very high, despite the entry into force of the Federal Tobacco Products Act (LPTab) on January 1st.^er October 2024, providing Switzerland with a specific law allowing the ratification of the FCTC, and the ban in 2025 at the federal level of "puffs", these disposable electronic cigarettes which Belgium, France and the United Kingdom have also banned.

The approach of the health experts is part of the context of the conference being held in Geneva. 11^e session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC, the largest international treaty in the history of treaties and the only one dedicated to public health, From 17 to 22 November 2025, the Parties that have ratified it will meet in a general assembly every two years and decide on the measures to be implemented to fully apply this convention and adapt to the new context. Issues such as the regulation of new nicotine products, the legal accountability of the industry, the ban on cigarette filters, and the fight against lobbying strategies are discussed by the Parties with a view to making decisions.

Call for the ratification and implementation of the FCTC, in a context of intense industry lobbying.

The FCTC includes a range of highly coherent and mutually reinforcing measures to reduce tobacco consumption. These measures include bans on all forms of advertising, sponsorship, promotion, and patronage of tobacco products—a particularly problematic issue in Switzerland, where advertising still proliferates.

Switzerland signed the convention on June 25, 2004, but has never ratified it due to its historical ties with the tobacco and nicotine industry. The city of Lausanne in Switzerland is home to the headquarters of the American tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI), one of the world's largest manufacturers, and Geneva is also home to the tobacco company Japan Tobacco International (JTI).

According to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2025, published by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), Switzerland is ranked second to last, highlighting the major role of industry in all public health policies.

Along with the Dominican Republic, the United States, Georgia, and Japan, Switzerland is indeed one of the countries where tobacco companies still enjoy privileged access to decision-makers and more permissive regulations. Tobacco manufacturers continue to actively interfere in the development and implementation of public health policies. Also highlighted are the collusive links with several elected officials who hand over their parliamentary badges to industry representatives, granting them direct access to restricted areas of the Federal Parliament.

Conversely, public officials regularly appear alongside the tobacco sector and members of parliament, ministers and governors have accepted sponsored study visits to the facilities of tobacco manufacturers, the most common being that of the PMI research center, the Cube, in Neuchâtel, which conducts research on heated tobacco products and nicotine products.

To sell their products, manufacturers do not hesitate to finance political parties with contradictory values, in order to to maintain both political favor and to win the support of certain targeted communities likely to consume its products, like LGBTQ+ people.

From an environmental perspective, the Swiss Federal Ministry for the Environment has been criticized for its regular participation in roundtables on cigarette butt pollution with the direct presence of industry representatives, thus calling into question the neutrality of the state. The "Stop Cigarette Butts" (Stopp dem Stummel) campaign, presented as a civic and environmental action, has been actually supported by players in the tobacco industry and is part of a communication strategy that glorifies the smoker« responsible », without questioning the production of plastic filters or tobacco consumption itself. The campaign website mentions that Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco International collaborated on it.

The signatories of the open letter are therefore asking the Federal Council and Parliament to ratify the Framework Convention quickly and to implement its provisions, in particular to protect young people and to meet the commitments of the 2030 Agenda, in particular target 3.a of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which calls for strengthening the implementation of the FCTC.

This demand from healthcare professionals also benefits from public support in French-speaking Switzerland. In May 2025, A survey conducted in this region of Switzerland indicated that respondents found the political influence of the tobacco industry to be too strong., They want the population to be protected from the influence of industry. Their proposals include banning tobacco advertising, including removing tobacco displays from stores, raising taxes, and age verification for online purchases.

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[1]Swiss Association for the Prevention of Smoking, Open letter from Swiss healthcare professionals, Published on November 15, 2025, accessed on November 18, 2025

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