Potential outcomes if a COI is found in the EU tobacco control framework review

In August 2022, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) launched a public tender seeking to receive services from awarded institutions to support the various actions in the field of tobacco control at EU level. These actions concern examining the impact of the currently-applicable Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) to determine the contents of the ongoing revision of the next TPD.

In January 2023, the HaDEA awarded the public tender to a consortium formed by Open Evidence, the European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP) and the University of Crete.

The awarding of this tender to these institutions, specifically Open Evidence and the ENSP, raised some concerns among members of the European Parliament (MEP) three months after, when MEP Sara Skyttedal submitted a parliamentary question to the European Commission (EC) asking whether it saw any conflict of interest on the tender awarding.

This report offers an overview of the situation as it stands, and examines the potential outcomes if a conflict of interest is found in the EU tobacco control framework review.