NZ has not fully implemented part of a WHO treaty designed to keep tobacco industry interests out of health policy, finds a new study.
Researchers interviewed politicians, public health experts and political journalists, finding that not all of the politicians were aware of the treaty’s requirements and some had spoken to industry representatives.
Meanwhile, some public health experts said the treaty requirements have been neglected since they were introduced.
The SMC asked NZ experts to comment. Feel free to use these comments in your reporting.
Dr Melissa-Jade Gregan, Honorary Research Fellow in Social and Community Health, University of Auckland, and author of this study, comments:
“Aotearoa New Zealand, a signatory to a legally binding international treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is known as a leader in tobacco control. Our research found that the government has never properly implemented Article 5.3 of the treaty, which requires the protection of health policies against tobacco industry interference. We interviewed 21 politicians, officials, political journalists and public health experts, and analysed government and tobacco industry documents.
“Article 5.3 guidelines provide 34 measures to apply across government to all involved in health policymaking, yet implementation here is largely confined to one: tobacco industry meeting registers at the Ministry of Health and Customs. Everyone else falls outside this one protection.
“Politicians we spoke to, including those involved in tobacco control policymaking, had limited knowledge of Article 5.3. One openly admitted being ignorant of Article 5.3. Considerations about whether to interact with industry were based on media optics rather than legal requirements of the international treaty. Rules that are unknown cannot protect anything.
“Aotearoa New Zealand needs to enshrine Article 5.3 measures into law and apply protections to everyone involved in health policymaking, including MPs. Because tobacco harm disproportionately impacts Māori and Pacific communities, the legislation should also include Te Tiriti committments and Māori and Pacific leadership, rather than treat equity as optional.”
Conflict of interest statement: Dr Melissa-Jade Gregan is an author of the study.
Professor Nick Wilson, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, comments:
“This new publication by Gregan and colleagues is a valuable contribution to understanding a weakness in Aotearoa NZ’s capacity to end its tobacco epidemic. It shows that despite NZ signing up to this important international treaty (the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) – it has not meaningfully implemented a key aspect: Article 5.3 which covers obligations around tobacco industry interactions. The authors detail some problematic behaviour by NZ politicians around links with the tobacco industry (as have others, e.g. here and here).
“They also indicate that this problem is compounded by NZ’s non-existent lobbying laws. Furthermore, they also report how our neighbour, Australia, is doing a better job on implementing Article 5.3. All this matters a lot given that tobacco is the second highest risk factor for health loss (poor health and premature death) in NZ. Tobacco is also a major driver of health inequities impacting Māori, Pacific peoples, and low-income NZers.
“It also matters because especially for small nations like NZ, the rules-based international order is critical to uphold for reasons of trade, health security, and other forms of security.
“Sadly, there are other signs of NZ suffering from a range of democratic deficits:
- While NZ ranks 14th on an overall democracy index (the liberal democracy index [V-Dem]) compared to peer countries, it continues to be behind Scandinavian countries by notable margins. NZ also ranks particularly poorly at 37th on an associated deliberative democracy index.
- NZ’s rank on Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perceptions Index‘ has recently deteriorated (from 2nd in 2022 to 4th in 2025) and is now 8 points behind the leader (Denmark: 89/100; NZ: 81/100).
- NZ is ranked the worst in an analysis of 47 countries by the OECD in ‘the regulation of lobbying activities‘. NZ has also recently fallen to 53rd in an index relating to governance relating to preventing tobacco industry interference.
“All this should be a big wake-up call for NZ – we need to strengthen our democracy in general and more specifically, build up our defences against tobacco industry interference.”
Conflict of interest statement: Professor Wilson has declared that he has no conflict of interest.
Richard Edwards, Honorary Professor of Public Health, ASPIRE Aotearoa Research Centre; Department of Public Health, University of Otago, comments:
“The paper is a timely reminder of the fragility of New Zealand’s commitment to protect public health policies from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry under Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
“The authors carried out documentary analysis and interviews with public health experts and current and former politicians, journalists and officials with relevant experience and expertise during the period 2021-2023. The study revealed widespread lack of awareness and understanding of FCTC Article 5.3 and limited scope and inconsistent application of its requirements across government agencies.
“These findings, combined with the lack of controls over or disclosure requirements for lobbying, suggest that tobacco control policy-making in Aotearoa is particularly vulnerable to tobacco industry interference. The current coalition government’s subsequent repeal of world-leading tobacco control policies and implementation of cuts in excise duty for heated tobacco products, in alignment with tobacco industry arguments, raises concerns about whether that vulnerability has been exploited.
“Preventing the tobacco industry, whose only interest is maximising its profits, from influencing tobacco control policy decisions remains critically important. Tobacco smoking continues to cause immense and inequitable suffering and premature death through avoidable cancers and many other diseases. Smoking prevalence in Aotearoa plateaued between 2023 and 2025, following years of steady and sometimes rapid decline.
“There is a compelling argument to incorporate Article 5.3 into domestic law and to accompany this with awareness raising, training and issuing practical guidance about its implementation across government. There is also an urgent need to enhance the monitoring of tobacco industry activities and adherence to Article 5.3. Sadly it seems highly probable that a follow-up study would reveal that Article 5.3 implementation has deteriorated from the already very low base revealed in Jade-Gregan et al’s research.”
Conflict of interest: “I have recently or currently received research funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, New Zealand Cancer Society and Government agencies such as Preventive Health South Australia. I have never received any funding or had any affiliation with the tobacco or vaping industries.”